The markets have been consumed by the escalating US/China trade discussions with substantial tariffs being levied by the US on goods and services totalling $200 bn of imports. The US has managed to upset Europe as well, seemingly doing a u-turn on last month’s agreed direction of travel on not levying any new tariffs whilst negotiations progress.
Global equity markets have fluctuated notably but finished the quarter up modestly. Emerging markets overall ended the month modestly down. Emerging market currencies hit headlines with Turkish lira and Argentine peso suffering dramatic falls of 25% and 28% over August, with a number of other emerging market currencies sliding. There is scope for this to be contagious.