Stocks around the world tumbled on Monday and oil prices slumped after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on China, triggering an investor exodus from risky assets.
“The probability of a no-deal scenario is now elevated and markets will have to price that accordingly,” said Mona Mahajan, U.S. investment strategist at Allianz Global Investors, New York. “That’s what’s keeping markets from moving down further. People are realizing that if talks are still continuing there’s a chance that this escalation can once again de-escalate,” she said.
At 11:30 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 60.74 points, or 0.37 per cent, at 16,433.69. Nine of the 11 major sectors were lower, with heavyweight energy index falling 0.6 percent and financial sector dropping 0.4 per cent. The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 1.15 per cent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 1.11 per cent. Japanese and London markets were both closed for holidays.