This week truly was dominated by momentous geopolitics. US President Donald Trump made a fleeting appearance at the G7 Summit in Canada over the weekend. The tense meeting concluded with Trump’s Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, stating that Canada would “not be pushed around” by the US.

Political newsflow abated this week. Only last week it looked potentially game changing, but it continues to rumble on in the background.

This week was all about Italy, until a late bid for the headlines from the other side of the Atlantic.

A key development in capital markets since mid-April has been the strengthening of the US Dollar, gaining back some of the ground lost in 2017. Whether it can persist is unclear at this stage, given the large increase in Government borrowing that will occur to fund the recent fiscal giveaway.