US Treasury yield curve steepens on continent after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell signals further interest rate cuts and the resumption of bond purchasesTokyo — Asian stocks fell the most in a week on Wednesday as the US and China’s broadening dispute over trade and foreign policy showed little sign of ending, weighing on global economic growth.
Oil prices extended declines as US visa restrictions on Chinese officials and the addition of more Chinese companies to a US trade blacklist weighed on already slim hopes that Washington and Beijing could reach a truce at trade negotiations this week. US stock futures rose 0.22% in Asia, but sentiment was weak after the S&P 500 ended 1.56% lower on Tuesday in response to the US visa restrictions.
The US state department announced the visa restrictions just a day after the US commerce department cited the mistreatment of Uighur Muslims in China in its decision to add 20 Chinese public security bureaus and eight companies to a trade blacklist. Tit-for-tat tariffs imposed by the US and China have roiled financial markets and slowed capital investment and trade flows.US President Donald Trump has said tariffs on Chinese imports will rise on October 15 if no progress is made in the negotiations.
The spread between two-year and 10-year Treasuries, the most common definition of the yield curve, widened to 11.6 basis points.