European markets trade lower, US stocks point to rebound


European markets trade lower, US stocks point to rebound

European markets opened lower on Wednesday led by France’s CAC off by 0.5 percent as investors worried about increased recession fears.

A deep inversion in the U.S. Treasury yield curve once again rattled investors.

Shares of BP traded higher after the company announced a sale of its Alaskan assets to Hilcorp Energy for $5.6 billion

Asian stocks were mixed Wednesday as uneasy investors watched for signs of progress on U.S.-China trade after Wall Street slid.

Japan’s Nikkei ended the day with a slight gain of 0.1 percent.  China’s Shanghai retreated by 0.3 percent and Hong Kong was off by 0.2 percent.

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U.S. equity futures were pointing to a slightly higher open, trimming some of the overnight gains.

Investors who worry the U.S.-Chinese tariff war will drag the global economy into recession were left guessing after President Trump’s conflicting comments on trade talks.

Markets rose after Trump said Monday said Beijing was ready to negotiate seriously following two weekend phone calls. But a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman couldn’t confirm any exchange had taken place.

On Wall Street, investors shifted money from stocks to U.S. government bonds, gold and other traditional safe-haven assets.

Ticker Security Last Change %Chg
I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 25777.9 -120.93 -0.47%
SP500 S&P 500 2869.16 -9.22 -0.32%
I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 7826.946285 -26.79 -0.34%

In the Tuesday session, the S&P 500 index fell 0.3 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.5 Percent and the Nasdaq slid 0.3 percent.

U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators are due to meet next month in Washington, but neither side has given any indication of offering concessions to break a deadlock. A round of talks last month in Shanghai ended with no sign of progress.

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Washington and Beijing fueled investor pessimism on Friday with an additional round of tit-for-tat tariff hikes. Their punitive duties on billions of dollars of each other’s goods already have battered exporters on both sides and prompted forecasters to cut economic growth outlooks.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.


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