Global stocks tumbled Monday after last week’s ugly close in the U.S. when the New York-based Dow Jones industrial average lost almost 1,000 points.
Traders ditched riskier assets on Monday as relief over Emmanuel Macron’s French presidential election win quickly gave way to renewed concerns about the global economy and the impact on it of rising interest rates.
Asian markets suffered their worst session in over a month. Monday’s selloff in Asia also saw Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fall 3.7 percent and the Shanghai composite slide nearly 5 percent.
European indices aren’t fairing much better.
The STOXX 600 index dropped to its lowest since mid-March, led by 2 percent and 1.9 percent drops in French and German shares. The euro slid 0.7 percent to its lowest since the initial bout of COVID-19 panic in March 2020.
Oil prices slid, dragged down by concerns that COVID-19 inspired lockdowns in east Asia would hit demand and by an expected U.S. supply slowdown after inventories fell.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies dropped Monday as expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will move aggressively to tighten monetary policy continued to rock the digital asset space.
Bitcoin fell over 3 percent during the past 24 hours to around Ksh.4.4 trillion (38,500 U.S. dollars).
