U.S. stock futures and Asian shares fell on Monday on growing anxiety over whether the United States and China will be able to salvage a trade deal, after Washington sharply hiked tariffs and Beijing vowed to retaliate.
Asian Shares
Investors are bracing for threatened “countermeasures” from China in retaliation for Washington’s tariff increase on Friday on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. The move followed accusations by U.S. President Donald Trump that Beijing “broke the deal” by reneging on earlier commitments.
- E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 shed 1.0%.
- MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.5%
- Τhe benchmark Shanghai Composite and the blue-chip CSI 300 shedding as much as 1.6% and 1.9%, respectively
- Japan’s Nikkei average sunk as much as 1.0% to hit its lowest level since March 28. It last traded down 0.5%.
Currency
A slim majority of economists polled by Reuters expects the central bank to keep rates at a record low although calls for a rate cut have grown louder after disappointingly weak first-quarter inflation.
- The offshore Chinese yuan fell to its lowest levels in more than four months at 6.88 to the dollar.
- The dollar was holding at 109.75 yen, down 0.2% on the day and just above a 14-week trough of 109.46.
- The euro was steady at $1.1233, while the dollar was little changed against a basket of currencies at 97.302.
Commodities
In commodity markets, oil prices remained a relatively tight range.
- U.S. crude futures were last down 0.1% at $61.62 a barrel.
- Brent crude futures gained 0.3 percent at $70.81.
- Spot gold eased 0.1% to $1,283.61 per ounce.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin jumped more than 10 percent on Saturday and marked its nine-month high of $7,585.00.
