Global stock markets have hit a new high point in 2019 today following the surge in Asian stock performance, led by China’s markets which ended 3% up following today’s trading. The gains come after sluggish performance in 2018 and muted interest following the continued tensions between the United States and China.

On Friday a joint announcement from the US and China reported that trade negotiations were to resume, which is believed to have given the Asian stock markets a big boost. Due to the US national holiday of Presidents Day there will be no market activity on Wall Street today, but it is expected that market performance will be improved when the US exchanges reopen tomorrow.

China’s leading index, the CSI300, gained slightly over 3% during today’s trading session, which puts it at a 15% gain for 2019 so far. In Japan, the Nikkei was up a more modest 1.8%, while the MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) All-Country World Index rose by 0.3% - its best position for 10 weeks.

As ever, President Trump took to Twitter of all places to speak about the work his administration is doing in negotiating a resolution to the trade war with China:

European markets continue to be subdued by Brexit and the Eurozone slowdown, with additional problems caused by Italy’s ongoing dispute with the European Central Bank, but only Germany’s DAX 30 (down 17 points) is explicitly losing out. The FTSE 100 is down by less than a point, while Italy’s FTSE MIB, France’s CAC40, and Spain’s IBEX35 are all slightly positive in today’s trading.