US stocks struggled on Friday to pick up on the recent rally as investors filtered through the latest batch of earnings and weighed Donald Trump's hints at a softer stance on China tariffs. President Trump's call at Davos for cuts to US interest rates,

Asian shares were mixed on Thursday after China rolled out more moves to try to boost its lagging stock markets by raising confidence that prices will rise. Officials in Beijing said pension funds and mutual funds would be required to increase purchases of shares,

China rolled out a basket of measures to stabilize its stock markets, including plans to boost the amount pension can invest in the nation’s listed companies, as it combats uncertainty in a second Donald Trump presidency.

State-owned insurers and mutual funds are expected to play a pivotal role in the process of stabilizing the stock market.

China said on Wednesday it will guide big state insurers and commercial insurance funds to increase investments in the A-share market, in a latest move to boost its lagging stock market. Under a plan jointly released by six financial regulators including the securities regulator,

State-owned insurers and mutual funds are expected to play a pivotal role in the process, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Finance said in a press briefing.

Beijing is seeing diminishing returns on repeated attempts to reinvigorate the market, as investors worry about harder-to-control economic fundamentals, like weak consumer spending and the prolonged property crunch.