The markets received surprising support from Donald Trump. The President indicated that he might be willing to give China a bit more time beyond the 90 days initially agreed, if he sees that the current trade negotiations are going well enough to be promising. The previous plan was that if a deal is not reached in 90 days, Trump would impose massive additional tariffs on them. Furthermore, Trump stated that the States might be able to avoid another government shutdown, which likely means he is not planning on vetoing the most recent deal struck between the Democrats and the Republicans in their budgetary negotiations. The news has had a positive impact on stock markets around the world.
Moving to Europe, today a rumor appeared that a chief British official supposedly said that unless Parliament backs Theresa May’s deal (which they will not, unless she removes the backstop from the agreement - to which the European Union refuses to agree), the United Kingdom’s exit from the bloc will be delayed by many months and would not happen as scheduled in the end of March. With about six weeks to go and no clear plan, investors are panicking at the disarray demonstrated by the United Kingdom.
