Stocks fell Monday in Europe and Asia, as investors awaited a meeting this week of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Germany’s DAX lost 0.4% to 15,827.65 and the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.7% to 7,326.66. Britain’s FTSE 100 index was virtually unchanged at 7,709.53.
S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.1%.
Hong Kong’s benchmark index was dragged down by property values following reports over the weekend that police arrested staff at troubled property developer China’s wealth management business Evergrande.
The Hang Seng fell 1.4% to 17,930.55.
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On Friday, China’s national financial regulator announced that it had approved the takeover of the group’s life insurance arm by a new public entity.
Defaults on real estate sector debts since 2021 have led to half-finished apartment buildings, disgruntled homebuyers and fears that the sector’s woes will further slow the world’s second-largest economy and shake global financial markets.
Hong Kong-traded shares of Evergrande rose 1.6% after plunging in early trading. Country Garden, another developer facing huge debts amid an industry downturn and a crackdown on excessive borrowing, gave up its initial gains, down 1.9%.
The Shanghai Composite Index was the only major Asian benchmark to advance, gaining 0.3% to 3,125.93.
In Seoul, the Kospi fell 1% to 2,574.72 while the Australian S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7% to 7,230.40.
Wall Street benchmarks fell on Friday, with technology stocks weighing the most on the market.
The S&P 500 lost 1.2% and the Dow Jones industrials lost 0.8%. The Nasdaq composite index lost 1.6%.
The market posted some gains last week following reports of several healthy economic indicators ahead of the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting, which ends Wednesday. This, along with a meeting of Japan’s central bank, are the main highlights expected for the week.
Investors will inevitably focus on the Fed meeting. The U.S. central bank raised rates aggressively throughout 2022 and 2023 in an effort to keep inflation under control, but it held interest rates steady at its last meeting. Inflation has generally returned to its 2% target.
Traders are overwhelmingly betting that the Fed will keep interest rates steady. They also expect the central bank to keep rates stable for the rest of the year. The Fed said it remained willing to continue raising rates if doing so seemed necessary to continue combating inflation.
In other trading Monday, benchmark U.S. crude oil gained 31 cents to $91.08 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It added 61 cents to $90.77 a barrel on Friday.
Brent crude, the pricing standard for international trade, rose 20 cents to $94.13 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar weakened to 147.65 Japanese yen from 147.72 yen. The euro rose from $1.0666 to $1.0664.
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