Improvement: the following phrase of mine could be easily...

Improvement: the following phrase of mine could be easily interpreted to mean that Trump is in control here rather than Putin, and that Putin is making Trump irritated so that Trump is making all these military moves.

Putin is pushing Trump's buttons

But that would be a poor interpretation. Rather, Putin is in full control and manipulating Trump to act in Putin's favour because of what he holds over Trump. And he holds a lot.

Putin is pushing the buttons that only Trump should control. The world, and hence the markets, will be much worse for it, apart from the Butcher of Damascus and Putin himself.

As for the recent trade war with China, we've already seen how the recent positive re-negotiations have not improved the market. There is more to consider than the trade war. It is more to do with the unease of the largest economy being in the hands of a goon.