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 this afternoon.<\/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: <\/strong>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