HONG KONG — Global markets shuddered on Thursday after a drop in stocks in the United States crystallized investors’ anxiety about a growing list of global risks, including rising interest rates, increased tensions between Beijing and Washington, and Italy’s increasingly unsustainable government debt.
Stocks were particularly hard hit in Asia, where no market was spared a sweeping sell-off. Stocks in Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong dropped 4 percent or more in a punishing session of trading.
In Europe, major stock indexes fell less drastically — by about 1.5 percent — only because markets had already been on a downward trend for several months.
Futures markets that track the expected performance of stocks in the United States suggested the sell-off could continue.
“The global economy and markets are in a delicate situation,” said Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING Bank in Frankfurt. “While the status quo is still good, risks are increasing.”
[Is this the time to do something urgent with your investments? Probably not.]
The stock rout started in New York on Wednesday, when the Standard & Poor’s 500 index tumbled 3.3 percent, its biggest drop in eight months. It was the fifth day of selling, signaling a change in mood on Wall Street, which had been ebullient amid strong corporate profits.
But concerns have started to weigh. With signs of rising inflation, the Federal Reserve is expected to ratchet up interest rates further, which could raise the cost of borrowing in the United States and around the world.
The market damage was particularly acute in China, where signs of economic softness and worries about the impact of President Trump’s trade war have pushed down stocks for months. Over the weekend, the People’s Bank of China unleashed $175 billion into the economy to help shore it up. Worried about the impact of negative information on its citizens, China has censored negative economic news.
For more read the full of article at The Nytimes
