BANGKOK: Asian shares tumbled on Monday as escalating trade tensions with China shattered a months' long calm on Wall Street.
US stocks skidded on Friday after President Donald Trump threatened to crank tariffs higher on China, signaling more trouble ahead between the two biggest economies.
He was responding to restrictions Beijing is imposing on exports of rare earths, which are materials that are critical for the manufacturing of everything from consumer electronics to jet engines.
But US futures advanced, with the contract for the S&P 500 gaining 1.4% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1%.
Strongest growth in six months
China reported its global exports rose 8.3% in September from a year earlier, the strongest growth in six months and further evidence that its manufacturers are shifting sales from the US to other markets.
Exports to the US tumbled 27% year-on-year last month, customs data showed. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng sank 2.2% to 25,700.07. Most other major regional markets logged losses of more than 1%.
The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.2% lower to 3,889.50 and the Kospi in South Korea gave up 0.7% to 3,584.55.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.8% to 8,882.80. Taiwan's Taiex shed 1.4% and India's Sensex was down 0.4%. Markets in Tokyo were closed for a holiday.
Re-escalation of trade war
On Friday, the S&P 500 sank 2.7% in its worst day since April, closing at 6,552.51. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.9% to 45,479.60, and the Nasdaq composite lost 3.6% to 22,204.43.
The setback reflected signs of a re-escalation of the trade war. “We have been contacted by other Countries who are extremely angry at this great Trade hostility, which came out of nowhere,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, alluding to Beijing.
He also said “now there seems to be no reason” to meet with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, after earlier agreeing to do so as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea.
Roughly six out of every seven stocks within the S&P 500 fell. Nearly everything weakened, from Big Tech companies like Nvidia and Apple to stocks of smaller companies looking to get past uncertainty about tariffs and trade.
The market may have been primed for a slide. US stocks were already facing criticism that their prices had shot too high following the S&P 500’s nearly relentless 35% run from a low in April.
The index, which dictates the movements for many 401(k) accounts, is still near its all-time high set earlier in the week.
Artificial-intelligence industry
Critics say the market looks too expensive after prices rose much faster than corporate profits. Worries are particularly high about companies in the artificial-intelligence industry, where pessimists see echoes of the 2000 dot-com bubble that imploded.
For stocks to look less expensive, either their prices need to fall, or companies’ profits need to rise.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 4.05% from 4.14% late Thursday.
In the doldrums
It had already been lower before Trump made his threats, as a report from the University of Michigan suggested that sentiment among US consumers remains in the doldrums.
Some of Friday’s strongest action was in the oil market, where the price of a barrel of benchmark US crude sank 4.2% to $58.90.
It fell as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect in Gaza. An end to the war could remove worries about disruptions to oil supplies, which had kept crude’s price higher than it otherwise would have been.
Losses accelerated following Trump’s tariff threat, which could gum up global trade and lead the economy to burn less fuel.
Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 3.8% to $62.73 per barrel. However, early Monday it was trading 85 cents higher at $63.58 per barrel. US benchmark crude oil gained 72 cents to $59.62 per barrel.
In other dealings early Monday, the dollar rose 152.22 Japanese yen from 151.89 yen late Friday. The euro fell to $1.1605 from $1.1614.
