WeekWatch for 8th June 2020
Balina Rai (Dhesi)
Wealth Management Consultant at Lawrence Neil Wealth Management Limited
China's first president, Sun Yatsen, was (he claimed) born in Hawaii, as, of course, was Donald Trump's predecessor. These days, however, Pacific islands are helping to drive the two countries ever further apart, as recent days have shown. Last week, it was the US payrolls report that dominated immediate market movements, as strong jobs numbers combined with hopes for second-quarter growth to push US indices not far off all-time highs, although the boost to global markets was already subsiding by Monday morning. But the further widening of the US-China cleft may prove more significant for investors over the long term.
The US urged the UN to reject China’s claims in islands peppered across the South China Sea (part of the Western Pacific), while reports suggested the UK may yet swing in behind the US government’s push to block Huawei from Western markets – and delivery of 5G networks. Meanwhile, the prime minister said the UK would offer 12-month renewable visas (a path to citizenship) to around 2.9 million Hong Kong citizens, due to Beijing's new national security bill – the US president said Hong Kong would no longer be treated differently to China.