By Usman Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: Monday has proven to be one of the worst days of ongoing calendar as global stock and commodity markets suffered trillions of dollar losses amid China’s unexpected growth data.
US stocks declined, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its biggest two-day drop in more than a month, after China’s economy grew at a slower pace than economists forecast, according to Bloomberg.
China’s gross domestic product rose 7.7 in the first quarter from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said in Beijing today. That compared with the 8 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists and 7.9 percent growth in the fourth quarter. Separate reports showed March industrial production rose less than estimated while retail- sales growth matched forecasts.
Natural gas futures dropped on Monday after investors sold the commodity for profits despite forecasts for wintry weather and below-normal temperatures to settle in for much of the central U.S, according to famous Forex news portal investing.com .
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in May traded at USD4.141 per million British thermal units, down 1.92%. The commodity hit a session low of USD4.122 and a high of USD4.290.
Natural gas prices rose late last week on forecasts for a return of colder-than-normal temperatures for the heavily populated eastern half of the U.S., though by Monday, investors sold and locked in profits, especially as fears of a global economic slowdown roiled markets worldwide.
Gold prices plunged amid panic selling on Monday after China reported that its first-quarter gross domestic product rate missed expectations and sparked a risk-off trading session, while soft U.S. factory data sent investors rushing to the safety of the dollar.
The dollar normally trades inversely from gold, which fell even harder than other risk-on asset classes amid sentiments that when U.S. recovery does regain steam, the Federal Reserve will unwind stimulus measures that have supported prices for several years now.
Weaker-than-expected output data in the U.S. and China sparked a global flight from risk on Monday that sent investors ditching the euro and other higher-yielding currencies for safe-haven dollar positions.
In U.S. trading on Monday, EUR/USD was down 0.45% at 1.3052, up from a session low of 1.3043 and off from a high of 1.3114. The pair was likely to find support at 1.3037, Friday’s low, and resistance at 1.3138, Thursday’s high.
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