Wall Street faces stomach-churning swings as economic uncertainty grows

On Monday, stocks jumped 1.1% on word that President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China had agreed to a 90-day halt on any new tariffs to provide space to negotiate key trade issues

When a trade war broke out between the world’s two largest economies in June, investors barely blinked. After the Federal Reserve raised interest rates — often a reason for investors to sell stocks — the markets kept climbing. As some of the world’s largest economies began to slow down, American markets largely shrugged it off.

Not anymore. Last week, elements of all of those combined to drive the S&P 500-stock index down by 4.6 percent, its worst weekly drop since March and one marked by stomach-churning price swings. Stocks are now down 1.5 per cent this year.

More volatility could be in