World Markets Wobble As US, China Trade Jibes Over Trade

World stock markets mostly fell on Monday as surveys of manufacturers showed business confidence crumbling as the United States and China spar over trade and technology.

Germany’s DAX fell 0.3% to 11,695 while the CAC 40 in France also lost 0.2%, to 5,195. The FTSE 100 in Britain gave up 0.3% to 7,137. The future contracts for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were both down 0.2%.

A private survey, the Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, or PMI, held steady at 50.2 points in May. But the report’s measure of business confidence slipped to the lowest level since the series began in April 2012, it said.

China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.3% to 2,890.08, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was almost unchanged at 26,893.86. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.9% to 20,410.88 and India’s Sensex rose 1.4% to 40,267.62.

The S&P ASX 200 in Australia dropped 1.2% to 6,320.50 amid expectations the central bank will slash interest rates on Tuesday for the first time in three years.

PMIs for elsewhere in Asia were mixed, with some coming in surprisingly stronger than expected. The manufacturing PMI for the eurozone remained at 47.7, below the 50 level signifying expansion.

The U.S. has raised tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese exports and Beijing has followed suit with its own hikes of import duties, obscuring the outlook for investors and shaking up supply chains.

After 11 rounds of negotiations talks are at a standstill, and the Trump administration has ordered further action to curb access by Chinese smartphone and telecom gear maker Huawei Technologies from the U.S. and other markets.

“Trade conflicts are the catalyst for the real issue: slower global growth leading to stagflation and recessionary conditions,” said Chris Weston of financial services company Pepperstone. “With the weekend news flow centering again on trade, where a Chinese white paper attributed the blame on relations to Trump, amid Chinese authorities investigating FedEx, it all suggests things will only get worse before they get better.”

South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.3% to 2,067.85 after Samsung Electronics’ Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong met with top executives of the company to discuss strategy as demand for computer chips and smartphones slows and Beijing and Washington clash over trade.

China released a “white paper” report Sunday that blamed the conflict over trade on the Trump administration, but stopped short of announcing details of a plan for retaliating against a U.S. blacklisting of Huawei Technologies. On Friday, it said it would soon announce its own list of “unreliable entities” consisting of foreign businesses, corporations and individuals.

Wang Shouwen, China’s vice commerce minister, said Beijing will issue more specific information on the list soon.

At a meeting in Singapore, China’s defense minister warned its military would “resolutely take action” to defend Beijing’s claims over self-ruled Taiwan and disputed areas of the South China Sea.

Regarding trade, Gen. Wei Fenghe said that if the U.S. wanted to talk the door was open.

“If they want to fight, we will fight till the end,” Wei said. “As what the general public of China says these days, a talk, welcome. A fight, we’re ready. Bully us, no way.”

All this talk has investors fleeing to traditional safe havens, pushing the Japanese yen strongly higher against the U.S. dollar. On Monday the dollar strengthened to 108.38 yen from 108.28 yen late Friday. Until late last week, the dollar had been trading at about 110 yen.

The euro rose to $1.1187 from $1.1170 late Friday.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil reversed earlier losses, gaining 64 cents to $54.14 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It tumbled 5.5% to settle at $53.50 a barrel on Friday. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 62 cents to $62.61 per barrel. It closed 3.6% lower on Friday.―US News