(Updates to close, adds reaction to Fed's Powell, U.S.-China
visa restrictions)
* U.S. Treasury yield curve steepens after Powell speaks
* Safe havens yen, gold shine in flight to safety
* Worries over health of world economy hit oil
By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Tuesday as
U.S.-China tensions rose further ahead of high-level trade
talks, while the British pound sank on reports that Brexit
negotiations were close to breaking down.
Gold and the yen rose, indicating an increased appetite for
safe-haven assets.
Wall Street stocks closed at session lows after Washington
imposed visa restrictions on Chinese government and Communist
Party officials over abuses of Muslim minorities. The move came
only hours after the Trump administration widened its trade
blacklist to include some of China's top artificial intelligence
startups. High-level talks between the world's top two economies on
trade are due to resume on Thursday. The negotiations, the stock
market's most important catalyst for months, have weighed on
investor sentiment.
"The headlines are painting a picture of a less optimistic
tone to the trade talks this week," said John Zaller, chief
investment officer of MAI Capital Management in Cleveland.
"Anything less than a tariff delay would be a pretty big
disappointment for the markets."
An increase to 30% from 25% in U.S. tariffs on $250 billion
worth of Chinese goods is scheduled for Oct. 15.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 313.98 points,
or 1.19%, to 26,164.04, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 45.73 points, or
1.56%, to 2,893.06 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
132.52 points, or 1.67%, to 7,823.78.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX lost 1.10% and
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed
1.14%.
Emerging market stocks ended 0.18% lower despite gains
overnight in Asia. Japan's Nikkei futures NKc1 lost 0.74%.
Investors of Chinese mainland stocks .SSEC returned from a
week-long holiday to boost the index by 0.3%, but a private
survey showed growth in China's services sector at its slowest
in seven months in September.
With the focus turning to trade talks, U.S. President Donald
Trump said he hoped Beijing would find a humane and peaceful
resolution to political protests in Hong Kong, adding that
situation had the potential to hurt the trade discussions.
GLOBAL GROWTH CONCERNS
The U.S. Treasury yield curve steepened, driven by a falling
two-year yield after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
flagged openness to further rate cuts and said the Fed would
expand its balance sheet to ensure money markets function
smoothly. Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes US10YT=RR last rose 6/32
in price to yield 1.534%, from 1.553% late on Monday.
Markets have been waiting for the Fed to put in place
policies to avoid the sort of reserve shortages that occurred
recently and could disrupt the Fed's policy goals if they were
to become a regular feature of financial markets.
Despite expectations for lower rates, the U.S. dollar rose
against a basket of six peers.
The dollar index .DXY rose 0.17%, with the euro EUR=
down 0.15% to $1.0953.
Sterling tumbled after reports that Brexit talks between
Britain and Brussels were close to breaking down.
The EU accused Britain of playing a "stupid blame game"
after a Downing Street source said a deal was essentially
impossible because German Chancellor Angela Merkel had made
unacceptable demands. Sterling GBP= last traded at $1.2212, down 0.63% on the
day. GBP/
The safe-haven yen strengthened 0.21% versus the greenback
at 107.08 per dollar.
The Turkish lira gained 0.06% versus the U.S. dollar at 5.83
after falling more than 2% on Monday.
Meanwhile in Washington, the new IMF Managing Director
Kristalina Georgieva said trade tensions could mean a loss of
around $700 billion to the world economy by 2020, or about
0.8%of global GDP. Worries over the health of the world economy sent oil prices
lower even as anti-government protests resumed overnight in
Iraq, OPEC's second-largest producer. U.S. crude CLc1 fell 0.34% to $52.57 per barrel and Brent
LCOc1 was last at $58.17, down 0.31% on the day.
"The market's focus remains on trade tensions and oil demand
concerns, ignoring the elevated geopolitical tensions in the
Middle East and lower OPEC production in September," said UBS
oil analyst Giovanni Staunovo.
"Growing recession risks have capped the upside of oil
prices."
The U.S. Energy Information Administration cut its 2020
world oil demand growth forecast by 100,000 barrels per day to
1.30 million bpd, or about 7%.
Spot gold XAU= added 0.8% to $1,505.47 an ounce. U.S. gold
futures GCc1 fell 0.02% to $1,497.20 an ounce.
Copper CMCU3 lost 0.67% to $5,683.50 a tonne.
Global assets in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Emerging markets in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
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