Global stocks slipped on Friday while crude oil and equity markets tumbled after US President Donald Trump upped the ante in a trade dispute with China.
MSCI’s gauge of worldwide equity indexes fell 1.0 per cent and stocks on Wall Street skidded after Trump threatened late on Thursday to add an additional $100 billion of tariffs on Chinese goods.
China warned it was fully prepared to respond with a “fierce counter strike” of fresh trade measures if the United States follows through on Trump’s latest threat.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.4 per cent but ended the week 1.15 per cent higher, according to Reuters.
The STOXX Europe index of companies in 17 European countries fell 0.35 per cent, with the trade-exposed auto sector the leading sectoral loser, down 1.7 per cent.
Defensive stocks such as utilities or telecoms were among a handful of European sectors to end the day in higher.
Apple, Microsoft, Amazon.com and JPMorgan led MSCI’s all-country index of stock performance in 47 countries lower, the same as on the benchmark S&P 500 index.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 706.29 points, or 2.88 per cent, to 23,798.93. The S&P 500 lost 69.99 points, or 2.63 per cent, to 2,592.85.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 179.07 points, or 2.53 per cent, to 6,897.48.
Oil prices tumbled, with US crude falling more than 2.0 per cent. Brent crude futures fell $1.22 to settle at $67.11 a barrel, while US WTI crude futures settled down $1.48 at $62.06 a barrel.
The yield on 10-year German government debt, the euro zone benchmark, dipped 2.7 basis points in late trading to 0.494 per cent, erasing much of Thursday’s rise.
Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 16/32 in price to push yields down to 2.7716 per cent.
The dollar index fell 0.42 per cent, with the euro up 0.41 per cent to $1.2288. The Japanese yen firmed 0.49 per cent versus the greenback at 106.86 per dollar.
US gold futures for June delivery settled up 0.6 per cent at $1,336.10 an ounce.