• The dollar slid on Monday as China raised tariffs on U.S. goods in an escalating spat between the world’s two biggest economies while stocks on Wall Street tumbled, led by a rout in technology shares, after President Donald Trump again attacked Amazon.com.
Amazon’s stock fell 5.2 percent after Trump attacked the online retailer over the pricing of its deliveries through the U.S. postal system and promised unspecified changes.
• China bumped up tariffs by as much as 25 percent on 128 U.S. products, from frozen pork and wine to fruits and nuts, in response to U.S. duties on imports of aluminum and steel.
• The Trump administration will unveil by Friday a list of advanced technology Chinese imports targeted for U.S. tariffs to punish Beijing over technology transfer policies.
“Everybody is bracing for that,” Kleintop said of expected U.S. tariffs on $50 billion to $60 billion a year of imports from China that will likely intensify U.S.-China tensions.
• In late trading, the dollar was down 0.13 percent at 90.043 against a basket of six major currencies, backing off from a one-week high of 90.178 set last Thursday.
• The dollar index fell 0.13 percent, with the euro down 0.16 percent to $1.2301. The Japanese yen firmed 0.31 percent versus the greenback at 105.94 per dollar.
The euro weighed down by overall caution in the market amid a U.S. equities sell-off.
• U.S. factory activity slowed in March amid shortages of skilled workers and rising capacity constraints, but growth in the manufacturing sector remains underpinned by strong domestic and global economies.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) survey published on Monday also showed a surge in the cost of raw materials and worries among manufacturers about the impact of steel and aluminum import tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump last month to shield domestic industries from what he has described as unfair competition from other countries.
The ISM said its index of national factory activity slipped to a reading of 59.3 last month from 60.8 in February. A reading above 50 in the ISM index indicates growth in manufacturing, which accounts for about12 percent of the U.S. economy.
• White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on Monday he did not see the United States and China responding to each other’s tariff moves in a tit-for-tat escalation of trade tensions.
• U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing for a preliminary NAFTA deal to be announced at a summit in Peru next week and will host cabinet ministers in Washington to attempt a breakthrough, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
• Oil fell by more than 2 percent on Monday, pressured by a rise in Russian production, expectations that Saudi Arabia will cut prices of the crude it sends to Asia and a deepening trade spat between China and the United States.
Brent crude LCOc1 fell $1.70, or 2.5 percent, to settle at $67.64 a barrel. That was the lowest level since March 21. U.S. crude CLc1 lost $1.93, or 3 percent, to settle at $63.01, its lowest since March 20.
Reference: Reuters
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