All the day´s economic and financial news, as investors worry that Donald Trump could trigger a full-blown trade war with ChinaMarkets are recovering in Europe and AsiaChina central bank chief: don´t panicChina Daily: Trump´s blood lust must be fought 5.46pm BST The prospect of a trade war between the US and China has put markets under pressure this week, and although there was some recovery today, it was by no means convincing. As well as continuing uncertainty over the effect of the proposed tariffs, oil prices were volatile ahead of this week´s Opec meeting. Meanwhile the pound edged a little higher after the UK government won a key Brexit vote. The final scores showed: 4.55pm BST It´s been a pretty volatile day for stock markets, as well as crude. And the pound has not been left out.From a low of $1.3149 against the dollar it hit a high of $1.3215 after the UK government won a key Brexit vote. It is currently at $1.3206, up 0.21%. Related: May wins `meaningful vote` victory after lead rebel Grieve accepts compromise - Politics live 4.37pm BST Oil prices are edging higher ahead of the key Opec meeting which begins on Thursday and following a bigger than expected fall in US crude stocks.The oil producers are expected to agree to increase output but the key question is by how much. Meanwhile evidence of rising demand came from the weekly US figures, which saw a 5.9m barrel decline, the biggest drop since mid-January. On the other hand there was a 3.3m barrel rise in gasoline stocks compared to expectations of a 1m fall.Crude oil is also in focus, with a whole raft of comments coming from OPEC member states ahead of Friday´s big production decision. Despite an initial rebuttal of a production increase proposed by Russia (via Saudi Arabia), we are seeing a gradual shift in tone which will likely see some form of rise in output come Friday.For markets, the line in the sand seems to be the 1 million barrels a day level. Anything less than that will be seen as a co ...
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