Global stockmarkets made progress amid easing trade concerns despite the news that President Trump had requested aides to proceed with tariffs on a further $200bn of Chinese goods.

US shares hit fresh highs, but elsewhere markets were generally weak as the sell-off in emerging market currencies continued.

Stockmarkets remained nervous as the Turkish lira declined further towards the end of the week, sparking fears of broader issues in emerging markets.

Global stockmarkets weakened as the week progressed amid a deepening financial crisis in Turkey. Rising risk aversion hit banks in particular. In contrast, core government bond yields fell.

Investors remained jittery after trade tensions escalated. China said it will impose new tariffs on $60 billion of US imports, including aircraft and liquefied natural gas, in response to Donald Trump’s threat to raise the rate of threatened tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese exports to 25%, up from an original proposal of 10%.

Donald Trump and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker announced a "new phase" in EU-US relations. In a joint statement, they agreed to "work together toward zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods”.

Japan and the EU signed the world’s largest bilateral trade pact. The deal creates a trade zone covering about a third of global GDP. The agreement must be approved by the European and Japanese parliaments before it can pass into law. Meanwhile the IMF warned that tariffs could reduce global growth by 0.5% by 2020.

The US-China trade war continued to intensify as President Trump ordered preparations for tariffs on a further $200 billion of Chinese imports. Some US multinational companies warned the consequences could outweigh the benefits of last year’s tax cuts.

The global trade war escalated when the US imposed a 25% tariff on $34 billion of imports ranging from water boilers and lathes to industrial robots and electric cars. In response, China is reaching out to the EU to form a united front against US president Donald Trump’s trade policies.

Global M&A activity reached $2.5tn in the first half of 2018, an all-time high for the start to a year and up 65% compared to the same period the previous year amid surging deals in the US media and telecoms sectors.