The FTSE started the week up 0.4% and Europe’s bourses were also higher across the board as Italian and Spanish stocks led the recovery after resolving some portion of their political problems late last week. In Spain, the vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister helped markets recover on Friday.
US China trade friction rekindles
The friction over a possible trade war between the US and China rekindled as the two countries moved closer to imposing tariffs on one another over the weekend. High level negotiators made almost no progress which could result in China reneging on its recent commitment to work on rebalancing the trade deficit with the US and block imports of farm and other products from the US. The White House now plans to impose tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods.
Strong US job data supports stock
Fears that the effect of the trade rift between the US and China could end up slowing down global economic growth were dampened by the strong jobs data offset in the US released Friday. The number of US jobseekers fell to an 18-year low in May.
In the currency markets the euro was slightly firmer against the dollar at 1.1697, trading up 0.32% while the pound was almost flat at $1.13358.
Construction PMI expected to show easing
The UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index due out later today is expected to show an easing off in April to 52 from 52.5 in March, continuing the seesaw action seen since the beginning of the year.
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