World stocks stall as U.S.-China tensions flare again

“People don’t want to be caught on the wrong side,” said Geoff Yu, head of the UK investment office at UBS Wealth Management. “It does reflect there’s cash on the sidelines. If you can stretch the positive narrative, if the trade issue is out of the way for the time being, we might actually see a demand pick up.”

U.S. markets are closed for Thanksgiving, but equity futures for all three major indexes were down around 0.3%.

HONG KONG AND BREXIT JITTERS
Jitters over a renewed Sino-U.S. fracas also showed up in currency and bond markets. U.S. bond markets are closed, but German yields fell to their lowest in nearly a month, down 1.5 basis points on the day DE10YT=RR

Japan's yen, a currency investors flock to in times of trouble, gained 2% against the dollar JPY=D3, rising as high as 109.40 yen per dollar. The Australian dollar and the offshore Chinese yuan lost around 0.2% CNH=D3.

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The British pound rose on Wednesday after a model for pollsters YouGov, which accurately predicted the 2017 election, said Prime Minister Boris Johnson was on course to win a majority in parliament at the Dec. 12 election.

However, the currency failed to build on its gains, trading around $1.294. It was flat versus the euro after surging to its highest in nearly seven months at 85 pence EURGBP=D3.

Implementing Brexit by the end of January, as Johnson had promised, would leave him a “miniscule” 11 months to agree a trade deal with the European Union, analysts at Societe Generale told clients.