AP – World stocks retreated yesterday after United States (US) stocks fell as good news on the job market added to inflation worries.
The future for the S&P 500 dropped 0.9 per cent and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4 per cent.
Oil prices surged more than USD1 a barrel after US President Joe Biden’s administration expanded sanctions. The Biden administration said the sanctions announced on Friday were the most significant to date.
US benchmark crude oil surged USD1.48 to USD78.06 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, rose USD1.38 to USD81.14 per barrel.
In early European trading, Germany’s DAX declined 0.7 per cent to 20,074.11 and the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.7 per cent to 7,379.02. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4 per cent to 8,217.34.
Markets in Japan were closed for a holiday.
China reported its exports grew at a 10.7 per cent annual pace in December, faster than expected, as factories rushed to fill orders to beat higher tariffs that US president-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose once he takes office.
Economists had forecast they would grow about seven per cent. Imports rose one per cent year-on-year. Analysts had expected them to shrink about 1.5 per cent.
The upbeat data failed to boost the region’s stocks. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped one per cent to 18,874.14, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.3 per cent to 3,160.76.
“Adding to the skittish sentiment is the uncertainty over how Asian economies, especially China, will fare under the shadow of the incoming Trump administration’s ‘America First’ trade policies,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 1.2 per cent to 8,191.90. South Korea’s Kospi shed one per cent to 2,489.56.
On Friday, the S&P 500 tumbled 1.5 per cent, ending its fourth losing week in the last five.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.6 per cent and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.6 per cent.
