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
Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso has been charged with violent conduct by the Football Association after an incident during the Premier League match against relegation-threatened Southampton. The left wing-back appeared to stand on the back of Southampton striker Shane Long’s leg during Saturday’s game but the incident went unpunished by referee Mike Dean. However, the FA has since reviewed footage and sanctioned the Spaniard, who has until 1700 GMT on Wednesday to respond. Alonso is facing a three-match ban if he accepts the charge, which would rule him out of Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final, also against Southampton, and Premier League games against Burnley, on Thursday, and Swansea. “Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso has been charged with violent conduct following an incident with Southampton’s Shane Long,” an FA statement said. “It happened in the 43rd minute of Saturday’s game… and was not seen by the match officials but caught on video.” Off-the-ball incidents not seen at the tim