The furious rally in US assets sparked by the tariff détente between Washington and Beijing has caught big investors off guard, colliding with widespread bets against the dollar and Wall Street stocks.
The S&P 500 has rallied 4 per cent this week, erasing all of its losses this year, after the US and China agreed to cut tariffs for at least 90 days, signalling an end to the worst of the trade war. The dollar initially rose too, while US government bond prices have dropped as traders exit traditional havens.
The rush of money back into stocks has stung large asset managers and other institutional investors, who were cautiously positioned on US assets on fears of a dramatic economic slowdown and broader worries over US policymaking.