Asian stocks inch up on trade outlook but markets remain wary

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks edged up on Thursday on signs the United States and China were on track for a preliminary trade deal, though optimism was tempered by the almost daily shifts in prospects for defusing the damaging tariff war now in its second year. The fluid situation around Sino-U.S. trade negotiations has cast a pall on financial markets heading into Christmas, with major economies grappling under the weight of weak exports, investments and corporate profits. Investors were..