Sunset view of Yarra river and Melbourne skyscrapers business office building with evening skyline in Victoria, Australia. Australia tourism, modern city life, or business finance and economy concept
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Asia-Pacific markets were set to extend their sell-off Monday as fears over a global trade war sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs fuel a risk-off mood.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to plunge at open, with the futures contract in Chicago at 30,675 against the index’s Friday close of 33,780.58.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 22,772 pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI’s last close of 22,849.81.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was set to fall, with futures at 7,213 compared with the index’s last close of 7,667.8. The benchmark slid into correction territory with an 11% decline since its last high in February, in its previous session.
U.S. futures dropped as investors’ hopes of the Trump administration having successful negotiations with countries to lower the rates were dashed.
Meanwhile, U.S. oil prices dropped below $60 a barrel on Sunday stateside. Futures tied to U.S. West Texas intermediate crude fell more than 3% to $59.74, their lowest since April 2021.
Trump’s top economic officials dismissed any fears of inflation and recession, declaring that tariffs would persist whatever markets may do.
Stocks in the U.S. sold off sharply last Friday, after China retaliated with fresh tariffs on U.S. goods, sparking fears of a global trade war that could lead to a recession in the world’s largest economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2,231.07 points, or 5.5%, to 38,314.86 on Friday, the biggest decline since June 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 nosedived 5.97% to 5,074.08, its biggest decline since March 2020.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite, which captures many tech companies that sell to China and manufacture there as well, dropped 5.8%, to 15,587.79. This takes the index down by 22% from its December record, representing a bear market in Wall Street terminology.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans, Alex Harring and John Melloy contributed to this report.
