Oil prices tumbled and global equity markets fell on Friday as China’s move to impose a new security law on Hong Kong further strained U. S.-China relations and clouded economic recovery prospects.
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices tumbled and global equity markets fell on Friday as China’s move to impose a new security law on Hong Kong further strained U. S.-China relations and clouded economic recovery prospects.
China also dropped its annual growth target for the first time, adding to uncertainty about the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, boosting safe-haven investments such as U. S. Treasuries US10YT=RR and the dollar.
China said it would impose new national security legislation on Hong Kong, leading President Donald Trump to warn that Washington would react “very strongly” against any attempt to gain more control over the former British colony.
Emerging market shares slid -2.72%. Stocks in Europe closed mostly flat and on Wall Street finished mixed as investors prepared for a long weekend in the United States, the UK and elsewhere.
After trading lower most of the session, Wall Street trended upward in late trading, with the S&P and the Dow managing to finish higher.
“The market just keeps battling higher, it just wants to go higher,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York.
