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
The Presidency on Monday assured Nigerians and the international community that the 2019 general elections will be free and fair. It also said the 2015 general election was credible just because of the then chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed these in a statement made available to journalists. Shehu was reacting to a United Nation’s prediction that 2019 elections in Nigeria will be credible and violent-free. He described the prediction as yet another indication of the world’s confidence in Nigeria’s current administration. A United Nations representative was said to have made the prediction in a Channels TV interview. Shehu expressed pleasure at what he called the world body’s accurate observation of the trends in President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, which he said could only lead down the path of free and fair elections come 2019. He said, “The Bu