US: Stocks pressured by weak China data, recession worries

WALL Street stocks finished mostly lower on Monday following weak Chinese economic data that added to recession worries amid inflation and rising interest rates. China’s retail sales and factory output slumped in April to their lowest levels in around two years, official data showed, reflecting the toll from that country’s aggressive restrictions due to Covid-19. FHN Financial’s Chris Low also cited gloomy comments from former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke who warned of possible “stagflation”-type economic conditions and told CNBC the Fed under current Chairman Jerome Powell had waited too long to address inflation. “It’s kind of a surprise the market isn’t down more,” Low said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a 0.1 per cent gain to 32,223.42. The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.4 per cent to 4,008.01, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 1.2 per cent to 11,662.79. Among individual companies McDonald’s dipped 0.1 percent as it announced it would exit Russia in the wake of the Ukraine invasion, taking a one-time charge of US$1.2 billion to US$1.4 billion to write off the investment. Spirit Airways Jumped 13.6 per cent after JetBlue Airlines announced a hostile takeover bid for Spirit, which had rejected a previous offer in favor of a merger with Frontier. JetBlue Airways dropped 6.1 per cent. This week’s calendar includes US retail sales data for April, as well as housing starts for the same period. Walmart and Home Depot are among the companies reporting results. AFP