Markets fall as US-China trade suffers “severe negotiating setbacks”

Markets mostly fell on Friday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.6 percent and the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.4 percent.

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.9 percent but the Shanghai Composite plunged 2.5 percent.

Tension between the US and China was raised after an executive order by the Trump administration, aimed at banning Huawei equipment from US networks, took effect on Thursday.

A spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce called the Trump administration’s recent moves to raise tariffs on Chinese imports “bullying behavior” that has resulted in “severe negotiating setbacks”.

Charalambos Pissouros, senior market analyst with JFD Group, said that “we are still reluctant to trust a long-lasting reversal in risk appetite” and “cannot assume that the worst is behind us”.