Search

Global Stocks Decline as Tariff Deadline Weighs on Markets - The Wall Street Journal

Workers are building an electric bus at a factory in China's eastern Shandong province. Photo: str/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Global markets shifted lower Tuesday as investors look for fresh cues on the progress of the U.S.-China trade talks ahead of the weekend’s tariff deadline.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.4%, while the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1.1%. Markets are waiting on a decision from President Trump regarding whether he will delay instituting new tariffs on imports from China by a Dec. 15 deadline, as the levies carry the risk of boosting prices on products for American households and may prompt retaliatory measures.

Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers are taking aim at China with a new bill that would bar the use of federal funds to buy Chinese buses and railcars, congressional aides familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. That may complicate Mr. Trump’s efforts to reach an initial trade agreement, which would bring to a halt tensions that have made markets jittery for much of the year.

Over in China, the government last year introduced a sweeping policy to curtail its use of foreign technology products by awarding more contracts to domestic suppliers, people familiar with the matter said. The initiative, which hadn’t been made public, may help China double down on its efforts to decouple its technology sector from the U.S.

Markets have been parsing the signals from such reports as they try to gauge the potential outcome of the trade negotiations, though some investors say a degree of fatigue has also set in.

“On the one hand, there’s the boy-who-cried wolf aspect, where investors have heard it all before,” said Oliver Jones, market economist at Capital Economics. “On the other hand, the outcome really does impact equity markets one way or another, it impacts the earnings of big tech companies and manufacturers.”

Ahead of the New York opening bell, shares in NortonLifeLock climbed over 3% in premarket trading after The Wall Street Journal reported that the consumer-software company has attracted deal interest from a range of companies including rival McAfee.

Within European equities, shares in Sanofi climbed over 4% in Paris after the French drugmaker said it would stop its research efforts in the challenging field of diabetes, and offered a bullish forecast for its star drug Dupixent.

The U.K.’s FTSE 250 index dropped almost 1%, in line with most other major European markets. Britain is preparing to head to the polls Thursday for a crucial election.

Later in the day, Federal Reserve officials will begin a two-day meeting, where they are expected to decide to hold steady on interest rates as Friday’s strong jobs report will likely reassure policy makers about the strength of the economy.

Write to Anna Isaac at anna.isaac@wsj.com

Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Let's block ads! (Why?)



Business - Latest - Google News
December 10, 2019 at 06:47PM
https://ift.tt/3586KlR

Global Stocks Decline as Tariff Deadline Weighs on Markets - The Wall Street Journal
Business - Latest - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Rx7A4Y

Bagikan Berita Ini

0 Response to "Global Stocks Decline as Tariff Deadline Weighs on Markets - The Wall Street Journal"

Post a Comment


Powered by Blogger.