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After the mayhem of ‘Manic Monday’, a level of calm has returned to the financial markets today (despite the weakening yuan).

The pound has hit a one -week high of $1.249 last night, recovering all its losses earlier this week as fears of a global trade war hit investor confidence.

In fact, this whole saga could well rumble on until the start of April, when the review ordered by President Trump into US trade policy is due to report back.

Perhaps, it is at that point, that we will see tariffs shift from being used as a bargaining chip to further certain political aims, to actually being used as a measure to address trade imbalances. Still, whatever the purpose, the whole thing remains a zero-sum game.

The dollar rose more than 0.5% against the yuan to a high of 7.2863 in onshore trade, though its gains were capped by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) setting a stronger-than-expected yuan midpoint rate, around which the currency is allowed to trade in a 2% band.

The fixing had been closely watched by investors for clues on whether Beijing would allow the currency to weaken to blunt the impact of sweeping new tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.