Markets mixed, “trade war here”

Markets were mixed on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 rose 1.2 percent after opening sharply lower, the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.5 percent and Asian markets were mixed.

Markets were initially weighed down by news of China's plan to impose new tariffs on US goods.

“China has taken out big guns to answer Trump’s tariff—the trade war is here,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets UK, in a note.

However, Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading, said that “investors are just not sure how to assess the impact that could come” but that because “recent lows in the market have held, people may feel a bit more comfortable buying the dip, even though nothing has changed or been resolved”.