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World markets dive as Trump sparks trade, North Korea worries

Global stocks sank Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said he was not satisfied with talks that are aimed at averting a trade war with China. Equities were also dented by poor eurozone economic data, and as Trump cast doubt on a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “Trump (is) continuing to drive uncertainty over global trade,” said analyst Joshua Mahony at trading firm IG. “European markets are following their Asian counterparts lower, as a pessimistic tone from Trump is compounded by downbeat economic data,” he added. Markets had surged Monday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said they had agreed to pull back from imposing threatened tariffs on billions of dollars of goods, and continue talks on a variety of trade issues. However, Trump has declared that he was “not satisfied” with the status of the talks, fuelling worries that the world’s top two economies could still slug out an economically pain...
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Bank of Japan holds rates as inflation remains low.

The Bank of Japan kept its ultra-loose monetary policy in place Thursday as inflation remains stubbornly low in the world’s third-biggest economy, bucking a trend of gradually tighter policy in major economies.
 
The bank said it would purchase 10-year government bonds so that long-term interest rates would remain “at around zero percent”.
The BoJ will also keep charging a negative interest rate on some accounts held by financial institutions at the central bank in a bid to prompt lending by commercial banks.
BoJ chief Haruhiko Kuroda later Thursday gave few clues about any timeline for pulling back the bank’s huge asset-buying programme.
“We won’t raise interest rates just because our economy is doing well … We’ll consider further easing if there’s a risk that the momentum (towards achieving the two-percent inflation target) isn’t maintained,” he told reporters.
Investors were also watching out for possible indications on whether Kuroda will stay on as he nears the end of his five-year term.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has reportedly asked him to stay on.
However, Kuroda was coy on this subject, saying he was not in a position to comment on personnel issues.

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World markets dive as Trump sparks trade, North Korea worries

Global stocks sank Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said he was not satisfied with talks that are aimed at averting a trade war with China. Equities were also dented by poor eurozone economic data, and as Trump cast doubt on a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “Trump (is) continuing to drive uncertainty over global trade,” said analyst Joshua Mahony at trading firm IG. “European markets are following their Asian counterparts lower, as a pessimistic tone from Trump is compounded by downbeat economic data,” he added. Markets had surged Monday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said they had agreed to pull back from imposing threatened tariffs on billions of dollars of goods, and continue talks on a variety of trade issues. However, Trump has declared that he was “not satisfied” with the status of the talks, fuelling worries that the world’s top two economies could still slug out an economically pain...
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