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Stock markets were mixed Thursday as investors weighed the latest volleys in the China-US trade war and strong tech earnings.Nestle shares surged eight percent after the Swiss food giant announced that it will cut 16,000 jobs worldwide over the next two years. Equities have largely been in flux since US President Donald Trump last week reignited his tariff row with Beijing, threatening 100 percent levies on Chinese goods in retaliation for its recent rare-earth export controls.In Europe, the Paris stock market was up 0.7 percent in early afternoon trade as French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survived a no-confidence vote.London dipped following data that showed lacklustre growth in the UK economy, six weeks ahead of the government’s annual budget.That followed a largely positive day in Asia, led higher by technology shares on AI-driven optimism. Shares in Taiwanese tech titan TSMC rose after it reported another record net profit on skyrocketing demand for microchips to power iPhones and artificial intelligence.Tokyo, Shanghai, Taipei and Seoul were all up, while Hong Kong closed lower.Investors also kept an eye on developments in the recent flare-up in tensions between the United States and China.”The US-China spat looks set to take another turn,” said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope markets.He added that China could “turn up the pressure by further deepening the trade conflict in the knowledge that it could spark a sharp slump in US equity markets”.Beijing on Thursday said the latest US moves to expand export controls and levy new port fees on Chinese ships have been “profoundly detrimental” to trade talks between the two superpowers.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared to take a more conciliatory tone, proposing a longer pause in their tariffs as they look to resolve the rare earths row.Since May, the world’s two largest economies have suspended sky-high levies on each other for three months at a time as they work towards a full trade deal.Concerns over China-US tensions, bets on US rate cuts and a weaker dollar have helped push gold to daily records. It hit a peak of $4,243.25 on Thursday.Oil prices rose as Trump said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised him that New Delhi will stop buying Russian oil.India’s rupee held onto gains after its strongest rally since June, bouncing from near a record low, after the central bank stepped in.”The Indian Rupee’s significant rally… was primarily driven by central bank intervention, a softer dollar index, and supportive factors like lower crude oil prices and renewed foreign fund inflows,” Dilip Parmar, senior analyst at HDFC Securities, told AFP.- Key figures at around 1050 GMT -London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 9,409.45 pointsParis – CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 8,129.36Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.1 percent at 24,208.09Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.3 percent at 48,277.74 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.1 percent at 25,888.51 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,916.23 (close)New York – Dow: FLAT at 46,253.31 (close)Euro/dollar: UP $1.1657 from $1.1645 on WednesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3434 from $1.3400Dollar/yen: DOWN at 151.21 yen from 151.24 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.77 percent from 86.90 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.5 percent at $62.24 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.6 percent at $58.62 per barrel

Taiwanese tech titan TSMC reported Thursday a record net profit for the third quarter on skyrocketing demand for microchips used to power iPhones and artificial intelligence.Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, has been a massive beneficiary of the frenzy in AI investment.TSMC’s clients Nvidia and Apple are among firms pouring many billions of dollars into chips, servers and data centres, fuelling concerns about a financial bubble.”AI demand actually continues to be very strong — stronger than we thought three months ago,” TSMC chairman and chief executive CC Wei told a briefing.TSMC said net profit for the three months to September soared 39.1 percent from a year ago to NT$452.3 billion (US$14.7 billion), a quarterly record.The figure beat expectations of NT$406.67 billion, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts.Third-quarter revenue was up 30 percent, also higher than forecasts.TSMC’s announcement follows a flare-up in trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, and concerns about US export restrictions to China and possible tariffs on chips.China’s rare earth export curbs and bid to ramp up its own chip industry has also sparked fears about the impact on AI.Even if the Chinese market were not available to TSMC and its customers, Wei said “AI growth will be very dramatic” and “very positive”.AI-related spending is soaring worldwide, and is expected to reach approximately $1.5 trillion by 2025, according to US research firm Gartner, and over $2 trillion in 2026 — nearly two percent of global GDP. “It’s not just Apple’s new iPhone driving sales. AI clients like Nvidia and AMC are ramping up orders for high-end chips as well,” Dilin Wu, research strategist at Pepperstone, told AFP ahead of the earnings release.”It shows TSMC’s technology and capacity are still hard to replicate, and that underpins both margins and valuations for the company.”Looking ahead, Wu said companies “might pull forward shipments to avoid restrictions, so basically front-running the tariffs.”That would be “especially AI chip and GPU clients, certainly in the Chinese market,” she said.The concentration of production in Taiwan has long been seen as a “silicon shield” protecting it from an attack by China, which claims it as part of its territory — and an incentive for the United States to defend it.While TSMC plans to invest an additional US$100 billion in the United States, Washington has been pressuring Taipei to shift more production to US soil. US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said recently he had proposed to Taiwan a 50-50 split in chip production, which Taipei rejected.burs-amj/kaf

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent slammed Beijing’s rare earth export curbs Wednesday as “China versus the world,” vowing that Washington and its allies would “neither be commanded nor controlled.””This should be a clear sign to our allies that we must work together, and work together we will,” Bessent told reporters at a press conference. “We are not going to let a group of bureaucrats in Beijing try to manage the global supply chains.”His comments came as global economic leaders gather in Washington this week for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s fall meetings.”We should work together to de-risk and diversify our supply chains away from China as quickly as possible,” Bessent urged.He later told a press roundtable that Washington was “already in talks” with partners on potential ways to push back.Bessent spoke days after Beijing announced fresh controls on the export of rare earth technologies and items.China is the world’s leading producer of the minerals used to make magnets crucial to the auto, electronic and defense industries.Bessent told a forum hosted by CNBC earlier Wednesday that he planned to speak with European allies, Australia, Canada, India and other Asian democracies, signaling a push for broader support beyond the Group of Seven advanced economies.”We’re going to have a fulsome group response to this,” he added.But he maintained that Washington would rather not take substantial actions to retaliate against China, expecting that more talks with Beijing will be forthcoming this week.- Longer tariff truce? -A trade war between Washington and Beijing has reignited in US President Donald Trump’s second term, with tit-for-tat duties reaching triple-digit levels at one point, snarling supply chains.Both sides have de-escalated tariff levels but their truce remains shaky and is set to expire in early November.With the latest controls surrounding rare earths, Trump has threatened an additional 100-percent tariff on goods from China starting November 1.US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer warned at Wednesday’s press briefing that US plans for a tariff hike or other export controls are in the works.But he expressed hope that China would back off its rare earth curbs.Bessent said an extension of the pause in steep tariffs was possible — in return for a delay in rare earth controls.”Is it possible that we could go to a longer roll in return for a delay? Perhaps,” Bessent said. “But all that is going to be negotiated in the coming weeks, before the leaders meet in (South) Korea.”The leaders of the world’s two biggest economies are expected to hold talks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit starting later this month.Bessent earlier told CNBC that Trump still planned to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the summit.Greer said Wednesday that “this is not just about the United States.””China’s announcement is nothing more than a global supply chain power grab,” he said. “This move is not proportional retaliation. It is an exercise in economic coercion on every country in the world.”

Stocks mostly rose and the dollar retreated Wednesday on hopes for further US interest rate cuts and a solid set of company earnings.Gold surged to a new high above $4,200 an ounce, boosted also by a fresh flare-up in China-US tensions.The dollar was weighed down by warnings on Tuesday from Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell on risks to the US labor market, reinforcing expectations the central bank will cut rates at its October meeting.”There was nothing in yesterday’s speech to kind of dissuade the market from thinking those rate cuts are coming, and so that was deemed a positive component,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.Wall Street stocks spent most of the day in positive territory with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ending up. The Dow retreated modestly.Both Bank of America and Morgan Stanley rose decisively following good earnings reports. On Wednesday, the Fed’s “Beige Book” survey of conditions around the United States also pointed to job market deterioration, with most districts reporting a greater number of firms lowering employment.Paris surged more than two percent after the world’s biggest luxury group LVMH beat earnings expectations, triggering a rally across the sector.LVMH shares soared more than 12 percent, while shares in Hermes jumped 7.2 percent and Gucci-owner Kering rose 5.4 percent. Shares in Burberry climbed over three percent in London.”Luxury goods demand has been in something of a tailspin of late, but LVMH has reported signs of easing pressures,” said Steve Clayton, head of equity funds at Hargreaves Lansdown.Investors also hoped for an end to France’s political turmoil after Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu backed the suspension of an unpopular 2023 pensions overhaul to bolster his cabinet’s survival.Frankfurt and London both finished the day in the red.Sentiment in the tech sector was lifted by Dutch tech giant ASML reporting solid sales and orders on its semiconductor machines.Its shares climbed 3.4 percent in Amsterdam even as it warned of a steep fall in its China business next year.Asian markets rallied, with Seoul jumping 2.7 percent while Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo all closed more than one percent higher.The gains came despite data showing that Chinese consumer prices fell in September, a sign that the world’s second-largest economy still faces weak consumer activity.Investors also tracked the latest trade salvos between Washington and Beijing, with US President Donald Trump last week threatening 100-percent tariffs in retaliation to China’s new export controls on rare earths.China appeared to stoke the row Tuesday by imposing sanctions on five American subsidiaries of South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean, accusing them of supporting Washington’s investigation into the shipping industry.Trump later threatened to stop purchases of Chinese cooking oil in retaliation for Beijing’s halt of US soybeans.”The rebound in risk appetite has continued across the board today, shrugging off any further spat between the US and China, this time over cooking oil,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at trading platform IG.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added to the tensions on Wednesday by slamming Beijing’s rare earth export curbs as “China versus the world,” and vowing that Washington and its allies would “neither be commanded nor controlled.”- Key figures at around 2020 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 46,253.31 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.4 percent at 6,671.06 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 22,670.08 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 9,424.75 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 2.0 percent at 8,077.00 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.2 percent at 24,181.37 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.8 percent at 47,672.67 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.8 percent at 25,910.60 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.2 percent at 3,912.21 (close)Euro/dollar: UP $1.1645 from $1.1607 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3400 from $1.3320Dollar/yen: DOWN at 151.24 yen from 151.84 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.90 percent from 87.14 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.8 percent at $61.91 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.7 percent at $58.27 per barrelburs-jmb

Dutch tech giant ASML warned Wednesday of a steep fall in its China business next year, as it booked flat net profits in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year.Traders appeared to see the glass half-full, with ASML shares closing more than three percent higher in Amsterdam, buoyed by solid sales and orders for its cutting-edge semiconductor production machines. ASML has faced growing pressure from US and Dutch export curbs for its most advanced chipmaking tools to China, as Beijing and Western nations are locked in a battle for the key sector.”We expect China customer demand, and therefore our China total net sales in 2026, to decline significantly compared to our very strong business there in 2024 and 2025,” said CEO Christophe Fouquet in a statement.The firm announced net profits of 2.13 billion euros ($2.5 billion), after 2.08 billion euros in the third quarter of last year. Net sales in the third quarter of 2025 came in at 7.5 billion euros. ASML had forecast a figure between 7.4 billion euros and 7.9 billion euros.”Our third-quarter total net sales… were in line with guidance, reflecting a good quarter for ASML,” said Fouquet.In July, the firm had warned that geopolitical and trade tensions had clouded the near-term outlook for its growth.ASML said then that it could not confirm it would be in the black in 2026.But on Wednesday, Fouquet said: “We do not expect 2026 total net sales to be below 2025,” adding that the firm would give more details on next year’s outlook in January.”I think we have seen a flow of positive news in the last few months that has helped to reduce some of the uncertainties we discussed last quarter,” said Fouquet.The CEO said he expected sales in the fourth quarter to come in between 9.2 billion and 9.8 billion euros. For the full year 2025, the firm predicts a 15-percent increase in total net sales.Net bookings, the figure most closely watched in the markets as a predictor of future performance, reached 5.4 billion euros, compared to 5.5 billion in the second quarter.According to a presentation posted on the firm’s website, sales to China represented 42 percent of ASML’s overall business in the third quarter, up from 27 percent in the second quarter.”We have been experiencing a very high cycle in China, especially through… the last couple of years,” said chief financial officer Roger Dassen in a call with investors.”Our expectation and the visibility we have right now is that next year we go back to more reasonable business,” added Dassen.- Geopolitical battleground -Longer-term, ASML believes that the rapidly expanding AI market will push up its annual sales to between 44 billion and 60 billion euros by 2030. It posted 28.3 billion euros in net sales in 2024.ASML is a critical cog in the global economy, as the semiconductors crafted with its tools power everything from smartphones to missiles. Semiconductors have become something of a global geopolitical battlefield.Washington has sought to curb exports of high-tech chips to China, worried they could be used by Beijing’s military.Last week, a US Congressional committee report said five companies, including ASML, had sold $38 billion worth of critical tech to China in 2024, including to firms flagged as US national security threats.”China is striving with all its might to build a domestic, self-sufficient semiconductor manufacturing industry,” the report said.Earlier this week, chip-related tensions grew between China and the Netherlands after the Dutch government took control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia, citing national security concerns.That meant while the company — based in the Dutch city of Nijmegen — can continue production, the Dutch government can block or reverse its decisions.Parent company Wingtech said it was appealing to Chinese authorities for support and discussing legal action with international law firms.

New challenges will test Pokemon trainers’ reactions in their virtual beast battles, as the near-30-year-old saga’s latest instalment hits Nintendo consoles on Thursday.”Pokemon Legends: Z-A” will for the first time play out its matchups in real time, rather than the turn-by-turn play of previous titles going back to 1996.Set in a vast city inspired by Paris, with landmarks recalling the Eiffel Tower or Arc de Triomphe, players will have to time their attacks or dodge incoming blows as their stable of fantasy creatures does battle in the arena.The breath of fresh air is likely to be welcomed by fans and critics, who have complained of a lack of new ideas in Pokemon releases of recent years.”Legends: Z-A” has been developed by Japanese studio Game Freak, the outfit that first brought the world of Pokemon to life.Published by console giant Nintendo and The Pokemon Company, the new title is part of the “Legends” spin-off series that kicked off with “Arceus” in 2022.Players can dive into “Legends: Z-A” on both the original Switch console and its Switch 2 successor.Gameplay unfolds around the city setting in a familiar competition format, with players scaling the ladder towards creature-training glory.Almost 490 million copies of Pokemon games for console and mobile devices have been sold in the series’ near-three-decade history, according to figures from The Pokemon Company.Originally inspired by Japan’s summer tradition of insect gathering, the games centre on capturing and training “pocket monsters” resembling creatures from mice to dragons.The beasts’ often-cute appearance belies their fearsome powers, which players can deploy in battles against other trainers.Characters from Pokemon games have been spun off into films, animated series and a plethora of merchandise.The franchise racked up $12 billion in licensing revenue in 2024, according to specialist publication License Global — or more than toy giant Mattel.

Stocks jumped and the dollar retreated Wednesday as trade war fears were overshadowed by comments from Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell that suggested the bank would cut interest rates again this month.After a volatile couple of days characterised by a fresh flare-up in China-US tensions, investors took the opportunity to jump back into the market and resume a months-long, tech-fuelled rally.Powell has for most of the year walked a fine line between trying to keep a cap on US inflation while also supporting the labour market, even as he faced a barrage of abuse from President Donald Trump for not lowering borrowing costs soon enough.And while price gains continue to outpace the bank’s target pace, a series of weak readings has forced him to turn his focus on jobs, and last month announced the first rate cut since December.And on Tuesday he indicated more were on the way.”In this less dynamic and somewhat softer labour market, the downside risks to employment appear to have risen,” said Powell, adding that longer-term inflation expectations remained aligned with the Fed’s two-percent goal.”Rising downside risks to employment have shifted our assessment of the balance of risks,” he said, adding there was “no risk-free path for policy as we navigate the tension between our employment and inflation goals.”Powell also hinted that monetary policymakers could soon stop reducing the size of its holdings of bonds and other instruments bought in vast quantities during the pandemic to keep borrowing rates low and support the economy.The bank has a dual mandate from Congress to act independently to tackle both inflation and employment.No official jobs data has been published for September because of the US government shutdown, but private sector figures point to a marked slowdown in hiring last month.US markets ended mostly down but well off their morning lows, and Asia was on the front foot.Seoul soared 2.7 percent, while Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, Taipei and Bangkok all climbed more than one percent.Singapore, Mumbai, Manila and Wellington also advanced.Shanghai also put on more than one percent, with little negative reaction to data showing Chinese consumer prices fell in September, indicating consumer sentiment remains weak.Paris surged more than two percent on hopes for an end to political turmoil after Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu backed the suspension of an unpopular 2023 pensions reform, while he also got support of the Socialist Party in the National Assembly.Frankfurt was on the front foot but London slipped.Expectations that borrowing rates will drop weighed on the dollar, which was well down against its peers.Powell’s remarks helped investors turn from the latest trade salvos between Washington and Beijing, with Trump last week threatening 100-percent tariffs owing to China’s new export controls on rate earths.While the US president tempered his rhetoric Sunday, China appeared to stoke the row by imposing sanctions on five American subsidiaries of South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean, accusing them of supporting Washington’s investigation into the shipping industry.Still, there are hopes the row can be defused, with Trump telling reporters at the White House that “we have a fair relationship with China, and I think it’ll be fine. And if it’s not, that’s OK too.””We have a lot of punches being thrown, and we’ve been very successful.”Meanwhile, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC that senior officials had spoken Monday on the rare earths dispute, and gave a broadly upbeat view.”We’ve been pretty successful in finding a path forward with them in the past so we think we’ll be able to work through it,” he said in an interview.- Key figures at around 0810 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.8 percent at 47,472.67 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.8 percent at 25,910.60 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.2 percent at 3,912.21 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 9,447.81 Euro/dollar: UP $1.1638 from $1.1604 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3360 from $1.3319Dollar/yen: DOWN at 151.11 yen from 151.74 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.12 pence from 87.13 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.1 percent at $58.62 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.1 percent at $62.32 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.4  percent at 46,270.46 (close)

Dutch tech giant ASML warned Wednesday of a steep fall in its China business next year, as it booked flat net profits in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year.Traders appeared to see the glass half-full, with ASML shares opening more than three percent higher in Amsterdam, buoyed by solid sales and orders for its cutting-edge semiconductor production machines.ASML has faced growing pressure from US and Dutch export curbs for its most advanced chipmaking tools to China, as Beijing and Western nations are locked in a battle for the key sector.”We expect China customer demand, and therefore our China total net sales in 2026, to decline significantly compared to our very strong business there in 2024 and 2025,” said CEO Christophe Fouquet in a statement.The firm announced net profits of 2.13 billion euros ($2.5 billion), after 2.08 billion euros in the third quarter of last year. Net sales in the third quarter of 2025 came in at 7.5 billion euros. ASML had forecast a figure between 7.4 billion euros and 7.9 billion euros.”Our third-quarter total net sales… were in line with guidance, reflecting a good quarter for ASML,” said Fouquet.In July, the firm had warned that geopolitical and trade tensions had clouded the near-term outlook for its growth.ASML said then that it could not confirm it would be in the black in 2026.But on Wednesday, Fouquet said: “We do not expect 2026 total net sales to be below 2025,” adding that the firm would give more details on next year’s outlook in January.”I think we have seen a flow of positive news in the last few months that has helped to reduce some of the uncertainties we discussed last quarter,” said Fouquet.The CEO said he expected sales in the fourth quarter to come in between 9.2 billion and 9.8 billion euros. For the full year 2025, the firm predicts a 15-percent increase in total net sales.Net bookings, the figure most closely watched in the markets as a predictor of future performance, reached 5.4 billion euros, compared to 5.5 billion in the second quarter.According to a presentation posted on the firm’s website, sales to China represented 42 percent of ASML’s overall business in the third quarter, up from 27 percent in the second quarter.- Geopolitical battleground -Longer-term, ASML believes that the rapidly expanding AI market will push up its annual sales to between 44 billion and 60 billion euros by 2030.ASML is a critical cog in the global economy, as the semiconductors crafted with its tools power everything from smartphones to missiles. Semiconductors have become something of a global geopolitical battlefield.Washington has sought to curb exports of high-tech chips to China, worried they could be used to fuel Beijing’s military.Last week, a US Congressional committee report said five companies, including ASML, had sold $38 billion worth of critical tech to China in 2024, including to firms flagged as US national security threats.”China is striving with all its might to build a domestic, self-sufficient semiconductor manufacturing industry,” the report said.Earlier this week, chip-related tensions grew between China and the Netherlands after the Dutch government took control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia, citing national security concerns.That meant while the company — based in the Dutch city of Nijmegen — can continue production, the Dutch government can block or reverse its decisions.Parent company Wingtech said it was appealing to Chinese authorities for support and discussing legal action with international law firms.

China’s consumer prices continued to fall last month, with official data highlighting the battle leaders face in trying to kickstart domestic spending in the world’s number two economy while fighting a trade war with the United States.Beijing has spent recent years grappling with a range of issues that have weighed on growth and consumer activity, including a persistent slump in the country’s vast property market and high youth unemployment.That has been compounded by a renewed standoff with Washington since Donald Trump became US president and unleashed a tariff war on the world, with a particular eye on Beijing.The uncertainty this has fanned has made the country’s army of shoppers tighten their wallets.Figures on Wednesday showed the country’s consumer price index — a key measure of inflation — dropped 0.3 percent year-on-year in September.The reading from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) was a slight improvement on August but worse than the 0.2 percent fall forecast in a Bloomberg survey.It also comes a day after the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook report noted a “weakness in domestic demand” in China — echoing a broader Asian outlook dimmed by the US trade war.The IMF added that a “rebalancing” of China’s economy through fiscal measures targeting social spending and property would help battle deflationary pressure.While deflation may be appreciated by consumers, it poses a threat to the broader economy as households tend to postpone purchases in the hope of even lower prices.- Trade tensions -China’s inflation stabilisation is “fragile and volatile”, said Tianzeng Xu from the Economist Intelligence Unit in response to Wednesday’s data.”The housing market has not yet recovered and the labour market remains weak,” Xu added.And Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, wrote in a note: “The trade tension returned and growth outlook uncertainty heightened, which is negative for demand recovery.” The NBS figures also showed the producer price index, which measures the cost of goods before they enter wholesale or distribution, fell 2.3 percent last month, in line with the Bloomberg forecast and an improvement from August.While tensions between Washington and Beijing have eased from their peak, a truce struck by the leaders earlier this year remains shaky.After months of relative calm Trump warned Friday that he would roll out an additional 100 percent tariff on the country’s goods from November 1. That came after Beijing imposed fresh controls on the export of rare earth technologies and other items. China’s commerce ministry vowed Tuesday to “fight to the end” in its trade war with Washington, if necessary.The latest salvoes came as trade figures from Beijing on Monday provided some hope for the economy, with shipments to the United States — the world’s largest consumer market — rising 8.6 percent on-month in September. Top leaders from the ruling Communist Party will convene in Beijing next week for a closely watched gathering to discuss China’s plan for the next five years, including economic and social development goals. Analysts agree that more demand-side support from policymakers would be needed to prop up the economy.Until then, there will be “little prospect of a meaningful improvement in China’s deflationary environment in the near term”, wrote Zichun Huang, China Economist at Capital Economics, in a note.

Stocks jumped Wednesday as trade war fears were overshadowed by comments from Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell that suggested the bank would cut interest rates again this month.After a volatile couple of days characterised by a fresh flare-up in China-US tensions, investors took the opportunity to jump back into the market and resume a months-long, tech-fuelled rally.Powell has for most of the year walked a fine line between trying to keep a cap on US inflation while also supporting the labour market, even as he faced a barrage of abuse from President Donald Trump for not lowering borrowing costs soon enough.And while price gains continue to outpace the bank’s target pace, a series of weak readings has forced him to turn his focus on jobs, and last month announced the first rate cut since December.And on Tuesday he indicated more were on the way.”In this less dynamic and somewhat softer labour market, the downside risks to employment appear to have risen,” said Powell, adding that longer-term inflation expectations remained aligned with the Fed’s two-percent goal.”Rising downside risks to employment have shifted our assessment of the balance of risks,” he said, adding there was “no risk-free path for policy as we navigate the tension between our employment and inflation goals.”Powell also hinted that monetary policymakers could soon stop reducing the size of its holdings of bonds and other instruments bought in vast quantities during the pandemic to keep borrowing rates low and support the economy.The bank has a dual mandate from Congress to act independently to tackle both inflation and employment.No official jobs data has been published for September because of the US government shutdown, but private sector figures point to a marked slowdown in hiring last month.US markets ended mostly down but well off their morning lows, and Asia was on the front foot.Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taipei and Seoul all climbed more than one percent, while Sydney, Seoul, Singapore and Wellington also advanced.Shanghai rose, with little negative reaction to data showing Chinese consumer prices fell in September, indicating consumer sentiment remains weak.Powell’s remarks helped investors turn from the latest trade salvos between Washington and Beijing, with Trump last week threatening 100-percent tariffs owing to Chinese rate earth measures.While the US president tempered his rhetoric Sunday, China appeared to stoke the row by imposing sanctions on five American subsidiaries of South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean, accusing them of supporting Washington’s investigation into the shipping industry.Still, there are hopes the row can be defused, with Trump telling reporters at the White House that “we have a fair relationship with China, and I think it’ll be fine. And if it’s not, that’s OK too.””We have a lot of punches being thrown, and we’ve been very successful.”Meanwhile, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC that senior officials had spoken Monday on the rare earth dispute, and gave a broadly upbeat view.”We’ve been pretty successful in finding a path forward with them in the past so we think we’ll be able to work through it,” he said in an interview.  – Key figures at around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.3 percent at 47,463.31 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.5 percent at 25,826.42Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 3,881.03Euro/dollar: UP $1.1621 from $1.1604 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3348 from $1.3319Dollar/yen: DOWN at 151.17 yen from 151.74 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.06 pence from 87.13 penceWest Texas Intermediate: FLAT at $58.71 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: FLAT at $62.40 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.4  percent at 46,270.46 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 9,452.77 (close)