Markets Slump on Persistent Concern That Tariffs Will Hurt Growth
Markets on Monday continued to reverberate from President Trump's trade war, with Japan stocks slumping, the U.S. dollar continuing to lose ground and oil prices slipping.
U.S. stock markets, which reopen Monday after the Good Friday holiday, were pointing to a lower open. S&P 500 futures were nearly 1 percent lower.
The Nikkei 225, Japan's benchmark stock index, fell 1.2 percent in early trading. The Nikkei ended last week on an upswing on hopes of a trade deal with the United States. Elsewhere, Taiwan's benchmark fell 1.4 percent, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.31 percent. Stocks in Japan and Taiwan, both of which are highly intertwined trading partners with the United States, are the worst performers this year in Asia.
Oil futures, which have fallen as much as 24 percent since mid-January, were down about 1.5 percent on Monday, with Brent crude at about $67 a barrel. Oil prices are often considered a barometer of future economic growth, and they have been weighed down by the prospect that Trump's tariffs will damage international trade.
The U.S. dollar continued its slide against Japanese yen on Monday, falling nearly 1 percent, the lowest since September. Against the euro, the dollar fell about as much, to the lowest in more than three years.
'We believe dollar weakness will continue,' said Win Thin, a managing director at Brown Brother Harriman, in a note. He noted though that recent gains in some currencies may not last because economic growth was likely to weaken.
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