In This Article:
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar gained on Monday as optimism ebbed over a potential U.S.-China trade deal that President Donald Trump outlined last week, while a gauge of global equity markets was little changed as investors sought details about an agreement.
Gold gained and oil prices fell more than 3% at one point as scant information about the first phase of a Sino-U.S. trade deal undercut optimism over a thaw in the dispute that has sparked a slowdown in global growth.
A slide in Chinese exports picked up pace in September while imports contracted for a fifth straight month, evidence of further weakness in China's economy as tariffs take their toll.
China's exports fell 3.2% from a year earlier in September, the biggest fall since February, customs data showed.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe <.MIWD00000PUS> shed 0.12% while the FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> of leading regional shares closed down 0.45%.
Stocks closed lower on Wall Street after trading on either side of break-even during the session.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> fell 29.23 points, or 0.11%, to 26,787.36. The S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 4.12 points, or 0.14%, to 2,966.15 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 8.39 points, or 0.1%, to 8,048.65.
"You're pivoting from what was trade escalation in August and parts of September to trade de-escalation which markets celebrated at the end of last week," said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors in Boston.
"Now moving forward it's going to be about what exactly has been agreed to?"
Investors are awaiting more details on trade negotiations, talks over Britain's departure from European Union and the release starting later this week of third-quarter earnings results, Arone said.
"I expect 2020 expectations to continue to be lowered and that could be a challenge to the market moving forward," he said.
The U.S. benchmark S&P 500 ended Friday with its first weekly gain in a month after Trump signaled that Washington and Beijing had taken the first major step in easing tit-for-tat tariff measures.
Euro zone bond yields fell as caution regarding the trade talks encouraged investors back into fixed income after a hefty sell-off on Friday that sent borrowing costs to 2-1/2 month highs.
Trading in U.S. Treasuries was closed for the Columbus Day holiday.
Earlier in Asia, stock markets cheered news of a trade agreement. China's blue-chip CSI300 index <.CSI300> gained 1.1% while the Shanghai Composite Index <.SSEC> rose 1.2%.