Global growth outlook tempered as US-China trade row escalates

US-China trade war dispute heated up last week weighing on market sentiment and limiting global stock market’s growth outlook. China restated the country “has to retaliate as necessary” to US tariffs as President Trump indicated readiness to levy more tariffs which are ‘working big time’.

The SP 500 lost 0.5% while the ICE dollar index gained 1.2% for the week. 2 The stock market’s biggest gain last week was recorded Monday as the SP 500 rose 0.4% with 79.2% of companies having exceeded earnings estimates while Beijing stated it won’t give in to “trade blackmail.”

The dollar strengthened every session last week except Monday. 3 Rising trade war tensions support the US dollar demand with the ICE dollar index jumping 0.5% Thursday following Beijng’s Wednesday announcement it would match duties imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration on some $50 billion of Chinese imports set to be enacted on August 23.

Data with most market impact this week are expected on Tuesday as German and European Union statistics agencies report their economies quarterly growth statistics. Among other significant economic data this week are the releases of the UK inflation and US retail sales for July on Wednesday.