A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top right, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, June 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market are closed Monday in observance of Juneteeth.
By Joe McDonald
Global stock markets followed Wall Street lower Monday after the top U.S. diplomat met China's leader but the two sides gave no sign of progress on an array of conflicts.
London and Paris opened lower. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong retreated. U.S. markets are closed Monday for a holiday. Oil prices fell.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.4% on Friday after the Federal Reserve held its benchmark lending rate steady but warned it might be raised later if needed to cool inflation.
Xi Jinping met Secretary of State Antony Blinken after what the Chinese government said were “candid and in-depth” talks with foreign affairs officials at a time when relations are at their lowest point in decades. They indicated willingness to cooperate on major issues.
“Whether that will lead to any actual positive outcomes still awaits to be seen,” said Yeap Jun Rong of IG in a report. “Any inaction on that front could still see any optimism fizzle out eventually.”
In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London lost 0.4% to 7,608.25. The DAX in Frankfurt retreated 0.6% to 16,268.19 and the CAC 40 in Paris declined 0.5% to 7,345.33.
On Wall Street, futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were off less than 0.1%.
On Friday, the Dow slipped 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.7%.
The S&P 500 is near a 14-month high, having risen 15% this year.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5% to 3,255.80 after Xi and Blinken met.
Xi said in a statement that the two sides “agreed to follow through the common understandings” he and President Joe Biden agreed to at a December meeting in Indonesia.
It gave no indication of progress on disputes about Taiwan, human rights, technology and security that have chilled relations and disrupted trade in semiconductors and some other goods.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo tumbled 1% to 33,370.42 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.6% to 19,912.89.
The Kospi in Seoul retreated 0.6% to 2,609.50 while Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.6% to 7,294.90.
India's Sensex shed 0.3% to 63,224.32. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets declined.
Last week, the Fed held its benchmark lending rate steady, the first time in 10 straight monthly meetings it hasn’t announced an increase.
The Fed warned, however, that it could raise rates as often as two more times this year. Wall Street is betting on a rate hike at its next meeting on July 25-26.
A survey Friday suggested U.S. consumers are paring back expectations for upcoming inflation. The preliminary reading from the University of Michigan survey also suggested consumer sentiment is strengthening more than expected.
In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude lost 16 cents to $71.77 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.16 on Friday to $71.78. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, declined 17 cents to $76.44 per barrel in London. It gained 94 cents in the previous session to $76.61.
The dollar rose to 141.89 yen from Friday’s 141.80 yen. The euro fell to $1.0921 from $1.0943.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
