By Kevin Buckland
TOKYO (Reuters) – Wall Street futures sank and the safe-haven yen strengthened early on Monday as building deflationary pressures in China added to growth worries from a fading U.S. economy and a simmering global trade war.
U.S. S&P 500 e-mini stock futures pointed 0.7% lower and Nasdaq futures sagged 0.9%.
The yen gained about 0.4% to 147.395 per U.S. dollar.
Cryptocurrency bitcoin lost as much as 7.2% from Friday to reach the lowest this month at $80,085.42.
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.
Friday’s U.S. figures showed the labour market created fewer jobs than expected last month in the first monthly payrolls report capturing President Donald Trump’s policies. That extended a recent run of soft readings for the world’s biggest economy.
Meanwhile, Trump in a Fox News interview on Sunday declined to predict whether his tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China would result in a U.S. recession.
“There’s no shortage of possible catalysts” for early weakness in markets, said Kyle Rodda, senior financial markets analyst at Capital.com.
“Most of all though, I think it’s Trump’s cavalier approach to economic policy that’s rattling sentiment,” Rodda said.
“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.”
(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Jamie Freed)
