Wall Street stocks rebounded on Monday from steep pre-weekend falls as US President Donald Trump softened his posture on China following earlier threats of large tariffs.

European stock markets made modest gains while Asia’s leading stock markets began the week in the red as they caught up with Wall Street’s sharp losses on Friday.

Gold reached a fresh record high thanks to its status as a safe-haven investment.

“Things have calmed down almost as dramatically as the flare up on Friday when Donald Trump threatened 100 per cent tariffs on China,” said City Index and FOREX.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada.

Major Wall Street indices that fell hard on Friday recovered a large chunk of their losses after Trump’s weekend pivot.

“Trump came back and made it very clear that everything is going to be fine with China,” said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments. “This looks like a relief rally.”