BANGKOK- World stocks were mixed on Monday after US companies strongly decreased following reports that suggested the US economy might be struggling as consumers and businesses fret over President Donald Trump’s policies.
After liberals won an election dominated by concerns for Europe’s largest economy, European shares increased. The DAX jumped 0.7 per share to 22, 439.17 after interim results confirmed that major liberals led by Friedrich Merz won the national vote, while a far-right group surged to become the world’s second-largest.
In Paris, the CAC 40 shed 0.2 per share to 8, 138.47, while Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.1 per share higher, to 8, 669.45.
Businesses were closed in Tokyo for a holiday.
In other Asiatic buying, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index wavered before closing down 0.6 per share higher at 23, 341.61. The Shanghai Composite score shed 0.2 per share to 3, 373.03.
Australia’s S&, P/ASX 200 gained 0.1 per share to 8, 308.20. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.4 per share to 2, 645.27, while the Taiex in Taiwan fell 0.7 per share. India’s Sensex even declined 0.7 per share.
On Friday, the S&, P 500 sank 1.7 per share for its worst moment in two weeks, closing at 6, 013.13, after some weaker-than-expected information on the US market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 748 items, or 1.7 per cent, to 43, 428.02, while the Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.2 per share to 19, 524.01.
According to a statement from S&, P Global, US business activity is near to stalling, with rise sagging to a 17-month low as US services business action quickly decreased. Many respondents to the survey expressed pessimism about the future.
” Companies report widespread concerns about the impact of federal government policies, ranging from spending cuts to tariffs and geopolitical developments”, said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&, P Global Market Intelligence. ” Sales are reportedly being affected by the uncertainty caused by the changing political landscape, and prices are rising as a result of supplier-related price increases,” according to reports.
Since December 2024, we have taken rising US tariffs and related countermeasures into our forecasts, with trade weakness being the main factor contributing to the anticipated slowdown in this year’s global real GDP growth rates. Weaker investment is a key downside risk”, Ken Wattret, a global economist at S&, P Global, said in a report.
According to a separate report, US consumers are getting ready for higher inflation, in part because of potential tariff increases that could affect import prices of all kinds. According to a survey by the University of Michigan, they are generally anticipating prices to be 4.3 % higher in 12 months, which is a significant increase from their forecast of 3.3 % inflation last month.
According to a third report, sales of homes that were previously occupied decreased last month as forecasted by economists. Relatively high mortgage rates, along with expensive prices for homes, have been hurting sales.
The rest of the market saw a decline in shares of the smallest companies, whose profits are more closely related to the strength of the US economy than those of large multinational rivals. The Russell 2000 index of small stocks dropped a market-leading
Even though the cybersecurity and cloud computing company reported higher profit for the most recent quarter than analysts had anticipated, Akamai Technologies experienced the S&, P 500’s steepest decline, losing 27.1 percent.
Better-than-expected profit reports had been reversing concerns about persistently high inflation, which might prevent the Federal Reserve from lowering interest rates to ease the strain on the economy and financial markets.
The Fed has been keeping its main interest rate steady since cutting it severely at the end of last year. Fed officials at their most recent policy meeting in January suggested they might hold off for a while because of concerns about how Trump’s proposed tariffs and mass deportations of immigrants, along with other factors, could increase inflation.
Lower rates can boost the economy, but they can also encourage spending that puts upward pressure on inflation.
US benchmark crude oil dropped 9 cents to$ 70.31 per barrel in early Monday’s New York Mercantile Exchange electronic trading. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 4 cents to$ 74.01 per barrel.
The US dollar rose to 149.50 Japanese yen from 149.24 yen. The euro climbed to$ 1.0481 from$ 1.0462.
