Attack of the wobbles

The escalation of the clash between the US and China moved into the foreground for stock market investors. The US administration has been talking about tariffs on as many as 1,300 Chinese products and China has reciprocated with similar threats. While the numbers continue to be bandied about and the jostling continues, many analysts have pointed out that all this is taking place in virtual space and is probably just a prelude to negotiations that will redefine the relations between the world’s two most powerful economies. For now, such declarations of intent have yet to be realised, but the uncertainty they engender is often enough by itself to take its toll on investment decisions and to have a rather negative impact on the company valuations. The situation has not been improved by the Cambridge Analytica scandal involving the leakage of data on millions of Facebook users, which Facebook itself seems to have played a part in. As a result of the furore the social network provider