TOKYO- Wall Street futures sank and the safe-haven yen and Swiss franc strengthened on Monday as building deflationary pressures in China added to growth worries from a lackluster US economy and an escalating global trade war.
US S&P 500 stock futures pointed 0.5 percent lower and Nasdaq futures sagged 0.6 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slumped 1.8 percent, and an index of mainland Chinese blue chips eased 0.7 percent.
Taiwan’s equity benchmark slipped 0.5 percent, although Japan’s Nikkei was 0.4 percent higher after flipping between small gains and losses.
The yen strengthened some 0.3 percent to 147.605 per dollar, while the franc firmed 0.2 percent to 0.8780 per dollar.
European markets offered a bright spot though, with pan-European STOXX 50 futures pointing up 0.55 percent.
Data on Sunday showed China’s consumer price index fell at the sharpest pace in 13 months in February, while producer price deflation extended to a 30th straight month.
Beijing pledged more stimulus to boost consumption and foster innovation in artificial intelligence at the start of the week-long National People’s Congress meeting that runs until Tuesday.
Elsewhere, US President Donald Trump in a Fox News interview on Sunday declined to predict whether his tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico would result in a US recession.
A run of soft US economic data continued on Friday after monthly figures showed the labor market created fewer jobs than expected in February, in the first payrolls report capturing Trump’s policies.
“I think it’s Trump’s cavalier approach to economic policy that’s rattling sentiment,” said Kyle Rodda, senior financial markets analyst at Capital.com.
“Unlike during his first administration, where signs of an economic slowdown or market correction would see a pivot on policy, he is genuinely focused on significant, structural change to the economy – even if it comes at the expense of short-term growth.”
