European stock markets have edged higher and cryptocurrencies rebounded amid signs that a new front in the US-China trade war may not be a severe as first feared.<\/p>\n
Tensions between Washington and Beijing escalated again on Friday and over the weekend<\/a>, as Donald Trump threatened to impose additional US tariffs of 100% on China starting next month.<\/p>\n The US president accused the country of \u201cvery hostile\u201d moves to restrict exports of rare-earth minerals needed for American industry. Beijing said it would retaliate if Trump does not back down.<\/p>\n However, Trump and senior US officials opened a door to a possible deal with China on Sunday. The president wrote on Truth Social: \u201cDon\u2019t worry about China, it will all be fine! Highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment. He doesn\u2019t want Depression for his country, and neither do I. The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!!\u201d<\/p>\n The comments have offered some comfort for investors in Europe, with stocks opening mostly higher on Monday. The UK\u2019s blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose by 0.2% in early trading, while markets in France, Spain, Germany were all up by about 0.5%.<\/p>\n Most big cryptocurrencies rebounded after a deep sell-off over the weekend. Bitcoin edged up by 0.3% to more than $115,000, after falling below $105,000 on Friday. Ether had dropped to less than $3,500 but rebounded to about $4,100.<\/p>\n Richard Hunter, of the broker Interactive Investor, said investors were hoping for a \u201cTaco trade\u201d, which is the idea that markets rally because \u201cTrump Always Chickens Out\u201d (Taco) of aggressive tariff decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president\u2019s propensity to shoot from the hip unsettles the investment environment, even though some are already speculating that the Taco trade is alive and well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n However, a heightened sense of uncertainty is pushing investors to gold,<\/a> which is considered a safe haven asset. Its spot price hit another new high on Monday, rising to as high as $4,078.5 an ounce.<\/p>\n Derren Nathan, of the broker Hargreaves Lansdown, noted that US stock futures suggested that there could be \u201cat least a partial rebound\u201d when the market opens later on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cTraders may be banking on a similar pattern where American indexes entered a six-month period of almost unbroken growth helped by a string of trade deals, and growing hopes of a soft-landing for the US economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Business Today<\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Shares in Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca \u2013 which made a deal with Trump to lower drug prices and avoid tariffs over the weekend \u2013 initially rose on Monday morning, before falling back by 0.4%.<\/p>\n