Markets rise after reprieve on car tariffs

Markets were mostly higher on Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.9 percent and the STOXX Europe 600 jumped 1.3 percent.

However, Asian markets were mixed, with the Nikkei 225 falling 0.6 percent but the Shanghai Composite rising 0.6 percent.

Asian markets were rattled by US President Donald Trump's order to ban telecom equipment from countries considered “foreign adversaries”, in a move apparently targeted at China’s Huawei Technologies, but other markets largely shrugged it off.

“After the damaging trade war escalation that dominated either side of the weekend, the markets were granted a reprieve on Wednesday as reports came out suggesting the U.S. was prepared to delay tariffs on cars from Europe and Japan,” wrote Connor Campbell, financial analyst at SpreadEx, in a note.