The FTSE 100 is called to open 8 points higher at 7424. Asian stocks advanced on optimism that the U.S. and China will declare another truce in their trade war at a presidential meeting on Saturday. The yen extended losses after the biggest drop since April. Equity benchmarks in Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong saw gains of almost 1%, and U.S. stock futures also climbed after reports that the current plan is for the U.S. to hold fire on hiking tariffs on another swathe of Chinese imports.

Last week was quite an extraordinary one, even for markets which rarely cease to surprise. Government bond yields hit an all-time low (at least in Europe) while the US stock market climbed to a fresh all-time high.

At its recent Annual General Meeting, JP Morgan American Trust voted to approve changes to its investment process. The trust will move towards a more concentrated, active approach, and ultimately a somewhat higher risk approach. This is part of a wider trend we are seeing across active management; fund and trust managers are increasingly moving towards higher conviction portfolios in an effort to differentiate themselves from passive offerings.

How did you start your career in finance? Badly. I started as a stockbroker when the city was still a cottage industry. The broker went bust (it was then acquired by Quilter Goodison!) Two other jobs followed in quick succession with a futile attempt to join a brewery in between.