After brutal 2018, world stocks nurse a New Year’s hangover
World shares sag as Chinese factory activity contracts, with S&P and FTSE futures lower, while the yen hits a six-month high to the dollar
London — World shares started 2019 on a downbeat note, oil prices and bond yields skidded lower, and the yen strengthened on Wednesday as data from China to France confirmed investors’ fears of a global economic slowdown. The US S&P500 and Dow Jones index futures were down 1.5% and Nasdaq futures fell 2.3%, signaling Wall Street would open in the red on the first trading day of the New Year after closing 2018 with the worst annual loss since 2008. Weak manufacturing-activity surveys across Asia were followed by disappointing numbers in the eurozone, sending MSCI’s index of world shares 0.4% lower. China, in particular, was in focus, after factory activity contracted for the first time in more than two years. The gloom continued in Europe, where the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the eurozone reached its lowest since February 2016. Future output PMIs were at a six-year low. The data suggests there will be no respite for equities or commodities after the losses of 2018. A pan-Eu...
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