BEIJING (`) – Global stock markets and Wall Street futures fell on Tuesday after Chinese exports fell ahead of this week’s US inflation update, which could affect the Federal Reserve’s plans for possible rate hikes.
London, Shanghai, Paris and Hong Kong withdrew. Tokyo advanced. Oil prices lost more than $1 a barrel.
On Monday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.9%, reversing a third of last week’s loss.
“US stocks started the week in better shape,” ING analysts said in a report. “However, it is not clear if this will last.”
In early trade, the FTSE 100 in London lost 0.4% to 7,528.15. The CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.4% to 7,288.73 and the DAX in Frankfurt lost 0.5% to 15,884.94.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 futures lost 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2%.
The Dow was up 1.2% on Monday and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.6%.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.2% to 3,260.61 after Chinese exports fell 14.5% yoy in July, increasing pressure on Beijing to reverse the economic slowdown. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.8% to 19,184.17.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% to 32,277.29 after official data showed labor income rose 2.3% in June.
Seoul’s Kospi slipped 0.3% to 2,573.98 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 was up less than 0.1% to 7,311.10.
India’s Sensex opened up 0.1% at 65,872.98. New Zealand, Bangkok and Jakarta retreated while Singapore gained.
US corporate earnings mostly beat forecasts for the April-June period. According to FactSet, nearly four out of five companies in the S&P 500 have beaten expectations so far. But they’re still on track to report the sharpest drop in earnings since the summer of 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic battered the global economy.
Investors are hoping Thursday’s US inflation data will help convince the Fed that upward pressure on prices is under control and no further rate hikes are needed.
Forecasters expect Thursday’s data to show consumer prices rose 3.3% year-on-year in July, up from 3% in June.
Inflation has gradually declined since hitting a two-decade high of over 9% last year.
Some forecasters warn that traders are premature in assuming rate hikes are complete and the Fed can achieve a “soft landing” and wipe out inflation without plunging the world’s largest economy into recession.
In energy markets, the reference price for US crude fell $1.05 to $80.89 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract was down 88 cents on Monday at $81.94.
Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, fell $1.12 to $84.22 a barrel in London. The price lost 90 cents to $85.34 in the previous session.
The dollar rose to 143.08 yen from 142.44 yen on Monday. The euro fell from $1.1007 to $1.0984.
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