Global stocks weak on Chinese data, oil slips

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A gauge of stocks in major markets fell on Tuesday for the first session in 10 after Chinese trade data reinforced views that the world's second-largest economy continues to lose momentum, while crude futures lost steam after early gains.

China's exports fell less than expected in September but a sharper fall in imports left economists divided over whether the country's ailing trade sector is showing signs of turning around. The data was not enough to suggest a greater risk of a hard landing, but it did feed expectations that Beijing will soon add to stimulus measures.

 

St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard, who opposed the decision to delay a rate hike when the Fed met in September, said on Tuesday the economic data since released is unlikely to convince other policymakers to increase rates when the Fed meets in two weeks.

Wall Street fell with financial stocks among the largest decliners on the S&P 500, pressured by the expectation of lower interest rates for longer. JPMorgan reports earnings after the closing bell and within a week Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley will post results.

Energy stocks, which led earlier, were also down as crude futures pared gains.

The world's two biggest brewers agreed to create a single company after AB InBev won over SABMiller at its fifth attempt. The cash and share package is worth more than $100 billion.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 23.65 points, or 0.14 percent, to 17,108.21, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 7.27 points, or 0.36 percent, to 2,010.19 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 17.76 points, or 0.37 percent, to 4,820.89.

The MSCI world share index <.MIWD00000PUS> fell 0.7 percent, on track to end its longest winning streak since February.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> ended down 0.9 percent and emerging market stocks <.MSCIEF> fell 1.4 percent. MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> fell 1 percent overnight. Japan's Nikkei <.N225> fell 1.1 percent.

OIL BOUNCEBACK

Crude prices lost all their early gains. Brent fell 0.6 percent after gaining 1.7 percent and WTI dropped 0.3 percent after rising as much as 2.8 percent. Both fell more than 5 percent on Monday.

Safe-haven U.S. Treasuries prices rose after the Chinese data, while continued expectations for a later Fed rate liftoff also supported prices.

"It's all a global growth fear trade," said Priya Misra, head of global rates strategy at TD Securities in New York. She said the Chinese data was the main catalyst behind the demand for safe-haven U.S. government debt.

U.S. 30-year Treasury bonds > were last up 23/32 in price to yield 2.8914 percent, from a yield of 2.928 percent late on Friday. Benchmark 10-year notes > were last up 13/32 to yield 2.0527 percent, from a yield of 2.099 percent late on Friday.

The U.S. bond market was closed on Monday.

The dollar's value against a basket of six major currencies <.DXY> dipped less than 0.1 percent and earlier touched its lowest in nearly a month.

The euro > added 0.2 percent against the greenback at $1.1380 and the yen > also strengthened 0.2 percent at 119.78 per dollar.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, additional reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Chizu Nomiyama)