Global stockmarkets mostly trod water over the week as investors breathed a sigh of relief that the results of the US mid-term elections were broadly as expected.

Having suffered their worst month since 2012 in October, global stocks started November on a brighter note, lifted by hopes of a thawing in US-Chinese trade tensions.

Global stocks plunged amid concerns over trade tariffs, mounting geopolitical risks, global growth and potentially peaking corporate earnings. In contrast, safe havens such as US Treasuries, the Japanese yen and gold rallied. Technology stocks once again led the sell-off amid fears the sector could be hurt the most by any downturn in global growth.

Investors remained cautious, with heightened diplomatic tensions between the US and Saudi Arabia, as a result of the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, adding to ongoing trade war worries, political risks in Italy, Brexit concerns, and more hawkish comments from the US Federal Reserve.

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.

Stronger US economic data led to a sharp sell-off in global bonds, causing stock markets to weaken. Global M&A activity hit $3.3 trillion in the first nine months of 2018, surpassing the previous record set just before the financial crisis in 2008. During the final week of September, Michael Kors offered $2bn for Italian fashion house Versace, while Barrick Gold bought Rangold Resources in a $66bn deal.

The drive for innovation within the insurance profession is moving quickly. Insurers are investing more to ensure that people are provided with a smooth customer journey and firms are harnessing emerging technologies in an effort to improve processes for both businesses and consumers. With smart technology becoming increasingly prevalent in people’s daily lives, insurers have taken this opportunity to utilise technology to develop chat bots and smart assistants, which are able to use intuitive programming and learning capabilities to provide and gather information on customer behaviour; inform and answer questions about insurance policies; and assist people with the claims process.

The classification of some of the favoured FAANG stocks was changed as of 21 September, with the telecoms sector of the S&P 500 being renamed and expanded to include all ‘communication services’ stocks. Companies such as Netflix, Comcast and Walt Disney are moving from consumer discretionary into the new sector and will be joined by Alphabet, Facebook and Twitter from the information technology sector. On 28 September, MSCI is following suit, meaning Chinese stocks Baidu and Tencent are moving from information technology to communication services, as are NetEase and South Korea’s Naver, while Alibaba, often viewed as China’s Amazon, is moving from information technology to consumer discretionary. Meanwhile, Naspers, a South African media company that owns a large stake in Tencent, is also moving to communication services.

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.