Markets rose on Wednesday.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent and the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.5 percent.
Earlier in Asia, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.6 percent while the Shanghai Composite jumped 1.9 percent.
Markets apparently took consolation after US President Donald Trump on Tuesday described the trade dispute with China as a “squabble” and repeated expectations for a positive meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next month in Japan.
However, investors would also have noted some disappointing economic data on Wednesday.
US retail sales fell 0.2 percent last month compared with expectations for a 0.1 percent increase.
Andrew Hunter, senior US economist with Capital Economics, said that this decline “supports our view that GDP growth is set to slow in the second quarter”.
And in China, industrial production in April increased 5.4 percent year-on-year compared to expectations for a 6.5 percent year-on-year increase while retail sales grew at the slowest pace since May 2003.
Heng Koon How, head of markets strategy at UOB, described these reports as “depressing and disappointing”.
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