The News
Thursday 28 of March 2024

Global stocks mostly slide after disappointing Chinese data


A man rides a bicycle past an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017. Asian shares were mostly lower Tuesday as markets watched for tax reform developments in the U.S. and digested economic data from China. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko),A man rides a bicycle past an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017. Asian shares were mostly lower Tuesday as markets watched for tax reform developments in the U.S. and digested economic data from China. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A man rides a bicycle past an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017. Asian shares were mostly lower Tuesday as markets watched for tax reform developments in the U.S. and digested economic data from China. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko),A man rides a bicycle past an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017. Asian shares were mostly lower Tuesday as markets watched for tax reform developments in the U.S. and digested economic data from China. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Global stocks are mostly down as investors watch for tax reform developments in the U.S. and digest weak manufacturing data from China. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index closed flat but European stocks were mostly down, as were U.S. futures.

TOKYO (AP) — Global stocks mostly fell on Tuesday as investors watched for tax reform developments in the U.S. and digested weak manufacturing data from China.

KEEPING SCORE: France’s CAC 40 shed 0.3 percent to 5,325 and Germany’s DAX fell 0.2 percent to 13,053. Britain’s FTSE 100 added nearly 0.1 percent to 7,420. U.S. shares were set to drift lower, with Dow and S&P 500 futures both down 0.2 percent.

DATA WATCH: Economic growth figures were upbeat for Italy and Germany, which saw growth accelerate to a quarterly 0.8 percent in the third quarter, from 0.6 percent in the previous three-month period. But new data for China disappointed. Its growth in industrial value-added output slowed to an annual rate of 6.2 percent in October, from 6.6-percent in September. China’s private fixed-asset investment increased 5.8 percent on year in the first 10 months of this year, lower than the 6-percent increase for the first nine months. The Chinese economy is still growing but the focus is on assessing whether that pace is slowing.

ANALYST VIEWPOINT: “Risk appetite was . dithering,” analysts from Mizuho Bank Ltd. said in a commentary. “The mood is certainly nowhere near the exuberance earlier this year.”

U.S. TAXES: The fate of U.S. tax overhaul legislation remains uncertain. It would deeply cut corporate taxes, double the standard deduction used by most Americans, and limit or repeal completely the federal deduction for state and local property, income and sales taxes. It carries high political stakes for President Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress.

ASIA’S DAY: Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index was flat to finish at 22,380.01 after trading in a narrow margin. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was nearly unchanged at 29,154.01, down 0.1 percent, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.9 percent to 5,968.70. South Korea’s Kospi edged down 0.2 percent to 2,526.64. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.5 percent to 3,429.55. But shares in Taiwan and Southeast Asia were mostly higher.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 31 cents to $56.45 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 2 cents on Monday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slipped 33 cents to $62.83 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 113.60 yen from 113.30 yen on Friday, while the euro strengthened to $1.1742 from $1.1656 on the back of the upbeat economic growth figures.

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AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama can be reached at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Her work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/yuri%20kageyama