Trump's notorious unpredictability also made investors more reluctant to place their bets, analysts said."The US and China are going to enter a new phase of negotiations," said Tangi Le Liboux, a strategist at the Aurel BGC brokerage in Paris."We will have to see over coming weeks whether there is real progress in these talks. Don't forget that Donald Trump can put a question mark over everything with just a single tweet.
Observers suggested such weak data could put further pressure on central banks to provide support to economies with fresh stimulus. In the US, the Federal Reserve is widely tipped to cut interest rates at its next policy meeting this month. The release of a US jobs report on Friday will be closely followed as a weak reading could boost the case for a big reduction.In the eurozone, however, policymakers at the European Central Bank do not see the need to rush into a rate cut, Bloomberg reported.