The week has been good for US tech giants, not great for Chinese and Hong Kong stocks, and choppy for UK and European companies.
Donald Trump upped the ante in the trade war with China; China responded in a measured way that could be read as political nous, but is likely to read as economic weakness by its rival.
The economy’s more forward-looking data continued to signal a gentle deceleration. Forward-looking components like PMIs slowed but aren’t yet signalling weak growth, and the July US employment data showed a slightly less bullish condition than June’s stonking report.
Meanwhile, the central banks of the US, UK, China and Japan were busy changing interest rates and sending signals.
