World stocks lower on Fed rate hike prospects, China trade

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By JOE McDONALD

BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks were weighed down Monday by weak Chinese trade and the prospect of a U.S. interest rate hike next month. But Japan and China bucked the trend to rise strongly.

KEEPING SCORE: In early trading, Germany's DAX shed 0.2 percent to 10,966.46 and France's CAC-40 lost 0.3 percent to 4,966.57. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.3 percent to 6,373.97. Futures pointed to a drop on Wall Street. Dow futures were down 0.2 percent at 17,803.00. S&P 500 futures fell 0.3 percent to 2,088.30.

CHINESE TRADE: Customs data showed China's imports fell by 18.8 percent in October from a year earlier, damping hopes for a rebound this quarter from its economic slowdown. Exports shrank 6.9 percent in a sign of weak global demand. So far this year, total Chinese trade has declined 8.5 percent compared with the first 10 months of last year. Weak demand from China is a negative for countries such as Australia and South Korea but also suggests Beijing will provide stimulus to the economy to prevent it from slowing too sharply.

AMERICAN JOBS: An unexpectedly strong October jobs report fueled expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates as early as next month after keeping them close to zero since the 2008 global crisis. The Labor Department said U.S. employers added 271,000 jobs, beating the most optimistic projections, while the unemployment rate dipped to a fresh seven-year low of 5 percent, from 5.1 percent. The market turmoil over the summer kept the Fed from raising rates at their September meeting.

FULL story at link.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b9e8ac919b994dd594d8329848671309/asia-stocks-weigh-weak-china-trade-us-rate-hike-prospects

[Andy823]

1. The whole rate hike thing is BS

Earlier when there was NO rate hike after saying their would be, the markets did the same thing, they dropped. So now once again the FED says their might be a hike, and the markets drop. The economy is good, jobs increase and the market drops. It's all BS. Investors are taking profits, then when the stocks drop a few dollars lower they buy them back up, push them higher, then sell them. The cycle has continues since republicans took control of congress, and it will continue till after the elections.

[Adrahil]

2. They need to get a rate hike in fairly soon, I think.

The Middle Class depends on safe income generating sources based more on interest rates than the 1% does (which depends more on capital gains). It's time, IMO.