Global shares collapse, gold reaches a record while investors are concerned about prices

By Junzhe Jiang, Associated Press

Hong Kong (AP) – Global stocks fell on Monday, with benchmarks in Tokyo and Taiwan by more than 4%, while the price of gold reached a record, a merchant at $ 3154 per ounce.

Investors fell and sought traditional paradise as gold while concerns are strengthened over a potentially toxic mixture of inflation aggravation and an American economy slowed down because households are afraid of spending due to the deepening of the trade war that increased under President Donald Trump.

The future of the S&P 500 has flowed 1%, while for the industrial average of Dow Jones dropped by 0.7%.

European markets opened below. The British FTSE 100 slipped 1% to 8,576.54, and the CAC 40 French decreased by 1.1% to 7,829.09.

The Dax of Germany dropped 1.1% to 22,222.99.

The whole of Thailand lost 1.3% after a powerful earthquake centered in Myanmar rocked the region, causing general destruction in the country, also known as Burma, and less damage in places like Bangkok.

The actions of the Italian Thai Development, a developer of a high -height office building partially built in construction that collapsed, plummeted 27%. Thai officials said they were investigating the cause of the disaster, which left dozens of missing construction workers.

Stock markets around the world appear fragile as a deadline on Wednesday is approaching for more prices. Trump has nicknamed the “Liberation Day”, when he deploys prices adapted to each of the trade partners in the United States.

Many countries that lead trade surpluses with the United States and strongly depend on export manufacturing are in Asia, Stephen Innes of Spi Asset Management said in a comment.

“Asia is zero soil. Of the 21 countries under the control of the USTR (US trade representative), nine are in Asia,” he noted.

Tokyo’s reference dropped from 4.1% to 35,617.56, while Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 1.3% against 23,119.58.

Shanghai’s composite index decreased by 0.5% to 3,335.75.

In South Korea, Kospi dropped from 3% to 2,481.12, while Australia S&P / ASX 200 flowed 1.7%, closing at 7,843.40.

Taiwan’s Taiex lost 4.2%.

Friday, the S&P 500 fell from 2% to 5,580.94, for one of its worst days in the past two years. It was his fifth week lost in the last six.

The industrial average of Dow Jones has flowed 715 points, or 1.7%, at 41,583.90, and the NASDAQ composite dropped from 2.7% to 17,322.99.

Lululemon Athletica led the market lower with a drop of 14.2%, even if the seller of Athletic Apparel declared a stronger profit for the last quarter than expected by analysts.

Oxford Industries, the company behind the Tommy Bahama and Lilly Pulitzer brands, also reported stronger results for the last quarter than expected, but has always seen its stock drop by 5.7%.

One of the main concerns by hitting Wall Street is that President Donald Trump’s growing prices can bring American households and businesses to freeze their expenses. Even if the prices end up being less painful than fearing, all the uncertainty can filter in modified behaviors which harm the economy.

A report on Friday has shown that all types of American consumers are becoming more pessimistic about their future finances. According to a survey by the University of Michigan, two out of three expect unemployment in the coming year. It is the highest reading since 2009, and it raises concerns about a labor market that was a hairdressing pin that kept the American economy solid.

A separate report also raised concerns after having shown a widely followed underlying inflation measurement was a bit worse last month that economists were waiting for it.

The Fed could return to the reduction of interest rates, as it was done at the end of last year, in order to give a boost to the economy and the financial markets. But such cuts would also grow upwards on inflation, which stuck above the target target of the Fed.

The economy and the labor market have resisted so far, but if they had to weaken while inflation remains high, it would produce a worst of cases called “stagflation”. Washington political decision -makers have few tools to remedy it.

In other transactions early on Monday, US reference oil added 44 cents to $ 69.80 per barrel. Brut Brent oil has won 46 cents at $ 73.22 per barrel.

The US dollar fell to 149.13 Japanese yen from 149.84 yen. The euro was unchanged at $ 1,0830.

Originally published: March 31, 2025 at 4:43 pm PDT