Markets opened the week on a firm-footing following talks over the weekend between US President, Donald Trump and Chinese President, Xi Jinping. The parties reached a cease-fire, with President Trump agreeing not to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports from 10 to 25 per cent on January 1st, as planned. China also agreed to cooperate by addressing several structural issues within its economy which Trump believes are unfairly having a negative impact on the US economy. It was concluded that there will be a 90-day period whereby US tariffs on China will remain unchanged, however an agreement will need to be reached after this time otherwise they would push ahead with the tariffs. Optimistic sentiment spread across Europe following strong rallies in Asia and US equity markets, while the dollar and US Treasuries, which are seen as safe havens, weakened.