Chinese shares were slammed more than 4 percent lower on Friday after data showed exports contracting by a fifth, deepening fears for the world economy and pushing global equities to three-week troughs. The February data, well below expectations of a 4.8 percent drop, worsened the brittle mood on world markets, following the European Central Bank’s announcement slashing growth forecasts and unveiling a new round of policy stimulus. While the timing of the Lunar New Year made it difficult to draw a true signal from the China data noise, the scale ...

On Monday, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose above the 3,000-point level for the first time since last June, taking its gains since the beginning of this year to a whopping 24 per cent, satisfying the popular definition of a bull market: a 20 per cent rally from a recent low. China’s other main stock indices are also in bull market territory, with the ChiNext gauge of small caps and technology shares up a staggering 38 per cent since the end of January. In corporate debt markets the spread – ...

Global stocks edged lower Thursday as markets awaited trade news and the European Central Bank’s policy statement. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.3% in early trading, putting it on course for a second consecutive day of losses after snapping a four-session winning streak Wednesday. Sectors exposed to trade including basic resources and autos led losses on the pan-continental index as U.S. and Chinese negotiators continued work on a trade deal. Shares in insurer Aviva were down 2.8% after it reported results. The broader Stoxx 600’s insurance basket was down 0.6% ...

Chinese stocks have staged a robust rebound this year, unexpectedly recouping much of 2018’s sharp losses, buoyed by hopes Beijing will roll out more support measures for the slowing economy and signs of progress in Sino-U.S. trade talks. Adding fuel to the rally is a pick up in the momentum in the A-share market’s internationalization process, which drew foreign money into China even as authorities vowed to further open up its financial markets and deepen reforms. The benchmark Shanghai composite index SSEC gained 17.9 percent in the first two months ...

Wall Street was set to dip at the open on Wednesday in the absence of fresh developments on trade, with investors taking a step back after a strong run in equities since the start of the year. Hopes that the United States and China will end their bitter trade row and a dovish stance on future interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve has propelled the S&P 500 11 percent higher this year. U.S. stocks began the week on a positive note after a report that the United States and ...

Asian stocks held their ground on Wednesday as Chinese equities rallied on stimulus hopes, although a resurgence in regional tensions capped broader gains with North Korea opting to restore part of a missile test site it had began dismantling earlier. Spreadbetters expected European stocks to open slightly lower following a dip on Wall Street, with Britain’s FTSE falling 0.15 percent, Germany’s DAX dipping 0.1 percent and France’s CAC losing 0.15 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 1 percent, hovering near a nine-month high, as China’s state planner said the ...

Europe’s markets rose on Tuesday, after China’s government set new growth targets for its economy. Although these dipped slightly, they still remain at an ambitious rate. How are markets performing? The Stoxx Europe 600 added 0.2% to 375.66 after finishing Monday up 0.2%. The FTSE 100 led the region’s top gainers, climbing 0.4% to 7,159.47, with Italy’s FTSE MIB the second top climber, adding 0.2% to 20,767.80. Meanwhile, the German DAX (DAX) rose by 0.1% to 11,609.42, France’s CAC 40 jumped by 0.1% to 5,291.48 and Spain’s IBEX 35 rose ...

Global stocks paused Tuesday, halting early-week declines that had been sparked by rising anxieties over the health of global economic growth. The Stoxx Europe 600 was flat in the opening minutes of trade, with gentle gains for its telecoms sector balancing slight pressure on the index’s autos sector. Inspection and testing company Intertek Group was one of the index’s sharper fallers, sliding 3.4% after reporting its full-year results. With investors treading water in anticipation of a trade deal between the U.S. and China, market focus has in recent sessions returned ...

U.S. stocks were poised to open higher Monday in tandem with global markets on signs of progress in U.S.-China trade negotiations. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.3%. The Dow has risen for nine of the past 10 weeks. In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.4%, following broad gains across Asia where Chinese stocks hit a nine-month high. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the U.S. and China were in the final stages of completing a trade deal after months of ...

Global funds recommended a bigger safety buffer in February, with cash holdings raised to their highest in more than three years and equity allocations cut to the lowest in nearly two, a Reuters poll showed. Many top equity indexes posted their best start to a year in decades, but a slowdown is underway in several major economies and the still-unresolved trade war between the U.S. and China has kept investors cautious. A monthly Reuters poll of 43 fund managers around the globe, taken Feb 14-27, showed cash holdings – a ...

Global shares rose on Monday amid growing optimism the United States and China will reach a trade agreement as soon as this month. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping might seal a formal trade deal around March 27, given progress in talks between the two countries, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. The two nations have imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on billions of dollars worth of each others’ goods, roiling financial markets, disrupting manufacturing supply chains and shrinking U.S. farm exports. A source briefed on the negotiations ...

Bets on a pickup in inflation are falling out of favor, underscoring investors’ skepticism that the U.S. economy will be able to stage a rebound after a soft start to the year. The growth outlook has dimmed over the past year as measures of manufacturing activity, consumer spending and business confidence have waned. The cool-down in the economy helped keep inflation from running past the Federal Reserve’s 2% target for a seventh straight year in 2018. The fact that inflation has continued to undershoot targets has allowed the Fed to ...

High-grade euro zone debt remains scarce even though the European Central Bank has stopped its huge purchases of new bonds, intensifying concerns that banks will face future collateral shortages and highlighting the need for safe assets. The persistent shortage of triple-A rated assets partly reflects a political dispute within the 19-country euro zone over whether to issue bonds backed by the bloc as a whole. That would boost the amount of risk-free securities in circulation but is disliked by Germany and other countries, who see it as a back door ...

Last December, the benchmark S&P 500 equity index suffered its worst final four weeks of the year since 1931 as investors fretted about a too-hawkish Federal Reserve, a sharp slowdown in Europe and China and the lack of meaningful progress in trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing. Fast forward two months, and the S&P 500 is enjoying its best start to the year since 1987, up 11.3 per cent since the beginning of January. It is not just American stocks that have rebounded spectacularly. The MSCI All-Country World Index ex ...

I was struck by the sharp contrast between what Republicans and Democrats had to say as I listened to the Congressional testimonies of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer and President Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen. All spoke on Wednesday. Democratic and Republican politicians seem to live in two different universes. In contrast, most investors live in only one. Politicians use words, and words are free; investors have their own money at stake. At Powell’s Humphrey-Hawkins hearing, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California, ...