British business welcomed a UK plan to keep strong European Union economic ties post Brexit, even though Prime Minister Theresa May was already counting the political cost.

Global stock markets mostly rose Monday as the British government appeared to turn toward a more trade-friendly version of Brexit and as investors monitored the escalating trade standoff between the U.S. and China.

KEEPING SCORE: France's CAC 40 rose 0.5 percent to 5,402, while Germany's DAX added 0.2 percent to 12,520. Britain's FTSE 100 was also higher at 7,646, up 0.4 percent. U.S. shares were also set for gains, with Dow futures up 0.5 percent and S&P 500 futures gaining 0.4 percent.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that the government would unveil "in the coming weeks" a plan to cut public spending and keep the budget within European Union deficit targets.

Pakistan's next government, to be chosen in a July 25 election, faces growing fears of a balance of payments crisis with speculation it will have to seek its second IMF bailout in five years, analysts say.

The world's third largest shipping container group, the French-owned CMA CGM, has decided to withdraw from Iran over the threat of U.S. sanctions, its chief executive said Saturday.

"Because of the Trump administration, we have decided to end our service to Iran," Rodolphe Saade told an economic conference in Aix-en-Provence in southern France.

Iran on Saturday accused U.S. President Donald Trump of destabilizing the oil market with his flurry of tweets taking aim at the OPEC cartel.

"These days... the price is dependent on the behavior of Mr. Trump," Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on state television.

Iran's remaining partners in the 2015 nuclear deal vowed Friday to keep the energy exporter plugged into the global economy despite the U.S. withdrawal and sanctions threat.

Punishing US tariffs on Chinese imports took effect at 12:01 am Friday (0400 GMT), marking the start of President Donald Trump's trade war with China, despite the concerns of businesses and investors.

Asian stocks fell Thursday as investors fretted over US-China tariffs due to kick in within hours and which threaten to plunge the world's top two economies into an all-out trade war.

China lashed out at the US Thursday, the day before a trade war is set to erupt between the world's top two economies, saying that Washington is effectively "firing at itself".