LONDON (AP) Global stock markets fell for a second day today as investors continued to fret over a looming trade war between the U.S. and China and mounting public scrutiny of technology companies.
Stocks have been trending lower for weeks largely because of a series of tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump and the Facebook data privacy scandal, which has raised the prospect of tighter regulation for social media and other tech stocks.
In the last week, Trump has also tweeted repeatedly about his new favorite foe, Amazon, whose owner also owns The Washington Post, which has been critical of the Trump administration.
Trump has approved possible higher U.S. duties on $50 billion of Chinese goods in response to complaints that Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology. Those tariffs come on top of previous proposals to raise tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.
In response, China announced it is raising tariffs on $3 billion of U.S. goods including pork, apples and steel pipe, increasing the risk of a broader conflict that might depress global trade.
The mood remains decidedly bearish, and there is certainly no shortage of reasons to be fearful, said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG. Its times like this when investors face a choice whether to sit and await developments or plunge back in.
That was evident in the performance of stocks this morning.
Returning from the long Easter holiday weekend, Europes stock markets tracked others lower, though the scale of the losses were diminished by expectations of a rebound on Wall Street later.
In Europe, Germanys DAX fell 0.8 percent to 11,999 while Londons FTSE 100 declined 0.2 percent to 7,037. Frances CAC 40 was 0.5 percent lower at 5,140.
On Monday, the S&P posted its worst start to a quarter since October 2011 and saw the index fall below its 200-day moving average for the first time in almost 2 years.
U.S. technology companies are in the spotlight, notably Amazon, which posted hefty losses of around 5 percent Monday after Trump again voiced his concerns about the company on Twitter.
The sector was already in the gaze of investors after Facebooks data scandal last month that has raised the prospect of heightened regulation. Netflix, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet have all seen their share prices decline.
Pressure on the sector doesnt appear to be going away in the near-term which will continue to act as a drag on indices, said Craig Er-lam, senior market analyst at OANDA.
Its times like this when investors face a choice whether to sit and await developments or plunge back in.
Chris Beau-champ, a market analyst
