Global Shares Sink Tuesday
TOKYO (AP) -- World shares skidded Tuesday following Wall Street's biggest loss in more than four months.
KEEPING SCORE: The DAX in Germany lost 0.4 percent to 13,271.33 and the CAC 40 in France shed 0.3 percent to 5,506.27. Britain's FTSE 100 gave up 0.4 percent to 7,642.05. S&P 500 futures fell 0.4 percent to 2,843.60 and Dow futures lost 0.6 percent to 26,280.00, auguring a downbeat start on Wall Street.
THE DAY IN ASIA: Japan's Nikkei 225 index lost 1.4 percent to 23,291.97 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.1 percent to 32,607.29. South Korea's Kospi sank 1.2 percent to 2,567.74. The Shanghai Composite index fell 0.8 percent to 3,488.01 and Australia's S&P ASX 200 gave up 0.9 percent to 6,022.80. India's Sensex lost 0.7 percent to 36,033.55. Shares also were lower in Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia.
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WALL STREET: The sell-off Monday was led by technology stocks, the biggest gainers in 2017, which accounted for much of the slide. Energy companies also fell as crude oil prices finished lower. Utilities and other rate-sensitive sectors declined as bond yields hit their highest level in almost four years. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.7 percent to 2,853.53 and the Dow Jones industrial average also dropped 0.7 percent, to 26,439.48. The Nasdaq composite lost 0.5 percent, to 7,466.51. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gave up 0.6 percent to 1,598.11. Losers outnumbered gainers almost five-to-one on the New York Stock Exchange.
TRUMP: Also on investors' radar: Tuesday night's State of the Union address by President Donald Trump, and a two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve's policymaking committee that wraps up Wednesday. "This is one of the few prepared speeches that the president will give, so the progress on NAFTA and trade with China is something the market is going to watch carefully," said Mike Baele, senior portfolio manager at U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management.
JAPAN: Data for December released Tuesday showed the jobless rate rising to a still low 2.8 percent and retail sales coming in stronger than expected. But household spending and willingness to spend fell, underscoring the need for wage increases during the annual spring labor negotiations that are underway.
ANALYST'S VIEWPOINT: "There was always a worry that sentiment had got a little crazy, with a number of red flags around market euphoria being highlighted by traders and strategists," Chris Weston of IG said in a commentary.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 64 cents to $64.92 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 58 cents, or about 1 percent, to settle at $65.56 a barrel on Monday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, dropped 40 cents to $68.80 a barrel. It fell $1.06, or 1.5 percent, to close at $69.46 per barrel on Monday.
CURRENCIES: The dollar, which fell sharply last week, declined to 108.64 yen from 108.96 yen late Monday. The euro rose to $1.2386 from $1.2383.
BITCOIN: The price of bitcoin fell 2.5 percent to $10,883.78 as of 0925 GMT, according to the tracking site CoinDesk. Bitcoin futures on the Cboe Futures Exchange fell 1.5 percent to $11,040.
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