[ad_1]
LONDON, May 1 – Global stocks fell further today due to grim economic data from the United States, joint venture results and President Donald Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on China due to the coronavirus crisis.
MSCI’s global stock index fell 0.5 percent after a drop late yesterday snapped a six-day winning streak for the index.
London-listed stocks fell when data showed the UK property market was slowing, with the FTSE 100 falling 2.2 percent, removing much of the strong gains earlier in the week.
British Airways operator IAG lost another 2.6 percent as details of its plans to downsize, including a quarter of its pilots, to weather the collapse in air travel caused by the coronavirus.
Trading volumes were sparse, with many European markets closed for a public holiday on May 1.
In Asia, with many markets closed, the Nikkei benchmark index fell 2.8 percent, with declines led by chip manufacturing companies. Australian shares fell five percent, their highest amount in five weeks.
The negative sentiment was set by Trump’s comments yesterday that he was concerned about China’s role in the origin and spread of the new coronavirus and that his trade deal with China was now of secondary importance to the pandemic. He threatened new tariffs in Beijing, as his administration crafted retaliatory measures on the outbreak.
Meanwhile, initial jobless claims from the United States totaled 3.84 million for the week ending April 25 and personal spending fell 7.5 percent in March, the biggest decline on record. All of that happened a day after the numbers showed the largest quarterly contraction in the US economy since the Great Recession.
The Federal Reserve of the EE. USA He expanded a key program to help the economy, agreed to lend to even bigger companies, putting the dollar under some selling pressure. The currency, which has so far been remarkably resilient, fell to two-week lows and has a weekly loss of two percent. However, it has stabilized a bit this morning.
The dollar fell slightly against the Japanese yen, trading at 107.07 yen, although another metric of market distress, the Australian dollar, fell 1% to 0.6447, its weakest point since Tuesday.
Oil prices rose, helped by major producers who began cutting production to offset a drop in fuel demand and by data showing that U.S. crude inventories expanded less than expected.
Brent crude for July delivery rose 22 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $ 26.70 (RM115) a barrel, after rising about 11 percent in April. It has still plummeted around 60 percent this year. US crude for June delivery rose 34 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $ 19.18 a barrel. But US oil fell for the fourth month in April and has fallen 70 percent this year. – Reuters
