All the day’s economic and financial news, as US president says Europe is “possibly as bad as China”, and EU threatens tariffs on more American goods * Latest: Eurozone factory growth slows as trade war fears bite * 1pm update: FTSE 100 down 50 points after early selloff * Trump tells Fox News: Europe treats us unfairly * EU: We’ll hit back if US imposes car tariffs * Asian markets have fallen overnight 2.06pm BST THE US COMMERCE SECRETARY HAS INSISTED THAT MARKET VOLATILITY WON’T DETER DONALD TRUMP FROM SHAKING UP THE GLOBAL TRADE SYSTEM. All these claims that the sky is falling are at least premature and probably inaccurate. The stock market hates uncertainty, business hates uncertainty, everyone hates uncertainty. The worst fear is the first of the unknown. But in the end arithmetic prevails, facts prevail, and fears are either realised or they go away. The president is trying to fix long-term problems that should have been dealt with a long time ago. Obviously there will be some pushing and tugging as we try to deal with very serious problems. There will be some hiccups along the way. Related: 'It stinks': Twitter gets wind of oddly named Trump tariff bill draft 1.31pm BST OVER IN ATHENS THE BANK OF GREECE HAS RELEASED ITS MUCH-AWAITED MONETARY POLICY REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY FOLLOWING LAST MONTH’S KEY DEBT-RELIEF PACKAGE. Continue reading...
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