Stock market today: Global stocks mixed on concern about US economy weakening

By JOE McDONALD
AP Business Writer

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets were mixed Tuesday after a report that showed growth in service industries is slowing stoked concern the U.S. economy is weakening.

London, Shanghai, Paris and Hong Kong retreated. Tokyo gained and Wall Street futures were mixed. Oil prices declined more than $1 per barrel.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.2% on Monday after an industry group’s May index of activity in construction, hospitality and other services fell to a three-year low. That conflicted with hopes raised by data last week that showed unexpectedly strong hiring, suggesting a potential U.S. recession brought on by interest rate hikes might be farther away.

“Weakness is emerging and that should be more noticeable in the coming months,” Edward Moya of Oanda said in a report.

In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London was off less than 0.1% at 7,594.30. The CAC 40 in Paris was up less than 0.1% at 7,201.48 and the DAX in Frankfurt was up less than 0.1% at 15,975.26.

On Wall Street, futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little-changed.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.2% to 3,195.34 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 0.2% to 19,072.42.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.9% to 32,506.78 after government data showed Japanese wages rose 1% over a year earlier in April but growth slowed from the previous month’s 1.3%.

The S&P ASX 200 in Sydney shed 1.2% to 7,129.60 after Australia’s central bank lifted its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.1% and warned further rises could follow. That came after inflation was stronger than expected at 6.8% in the January-March quarter.

India’s Sensex lost 0.2% to 62,653.68. New Zealand and Jakarta advanced while Singapore and Bangkok declined. South Korean markets were closed for a holiday.

The majority of Wall Street stocks sank Monday after a weekslong rally carried Wall Street to an 10-month high.

The Dow fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1% after the Institute for Supply Management reported its service industry index declined to 50.3 from April’s 51.9 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 show activity increasing.

Apple fell 0.8% after unveiling a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world. It will cost $3,500 when it is released early next year.

Traders are worried rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and central banks in Europe and Asia to cool inflation that was at multidecade highs will push the global economy into a recession. They hope signs of slowing U.S. activity will prompt the Fed to postpone or scale back another possible rate increase at its meeting this month.

The U.S. government is due to release an update on inflation next week ahead of the Fed meeting.

Even if the Fed puts off a rate hike this month, Wall Street is betting on another increase in July after officials examine more data.

High interest rates led to three high-profile U.S. bank failures and one in Switzerland that rattled financial markets. Manufacturing also has been weakening.

Last week’s data showed that U.S. employers unexpectedly accelerated hiring in May, while increases in workers’ wages diminished. That helped propel Wall Street to the brink of a “bull market,” or an increase of 20% in the S&P 500 over its mid-October low.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude lost $1.11 per barrel to $71.04 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 41 cents to $72.15 on Monday. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, sank $1.05 to $75.66 per barrel in London. It advanced 58 cents the previous session to $76.71.

The dollar fell to 139.45 yen from Monday’s 139.63 yen. The euro gained to $1.0729 from $1.0715.