Apart from last week's blip caused by the US assassination of Iran's top general, markets have enjoyed a strong start to the new decade, building on the rally of late 2019.
All three main indexes on Wall Street ended at record highs Thursday, boosted by the Senate's approval of a new North American free-trade deal, while Google parent Alphabet joined Apple and Microsoft to become a trillion-dollar firm for the first time. Beijing added to the mood, releasing data that said the world's number two economy expanded 6.1 per cent last year.
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