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...
Roger Federer edged a step closer to defending his title when Hyeon Chung retired in the second set of their match on Rod Laver Arena. With the quick victory of 6/1; 5/2; retired. It was a disappointing end to a match that was preceded by great expectations of a veritable clash of age groups. Feeder won the toss and elected to receive. The first point of the match was lost by Chung when a powerful return of his serve forced a missed forehand. Although Federer lost the next point, he had two break points and achieved the break after a deuce. He delivered two aces and survived a break point before clinching the game. The first two games pointed to a battle in the offing and this was supported by Chung’s hold of serve. However, Federer commenced a one-sided run to a 5-1 lead. The sixth game was the battle of the war. With a double fault in the process, Chung faced 304- break point but hit a backhand winner to deuce. He had only one advantage opportunity while cancelling his opponent...