Asian Equities Poised for Weak Open, Futures Drop: Markets Wrap – Yahoo Finance

March 9, 2025

(Bloomberg) – Equity and Treasury yields fell Monday as concerns over the US economy put a strain on investors' appetite for risk.

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Asian stocks fell as S&P 500 stock futures contracts fell 0.4% and technological NASDAQ 100 stocks fell 0.4%. The Treasury slid beyond maturity as investors sought the security of bond assets.

The shift to Haven lifted both the yen and the Swiss franc, but the lowest shy dollar gauge since November shook as confidence in the US economic outperformance shaking. Gold has come close to its lowest since September as weak economic data from China has worsened demand outlook.

Tariffs on key trading partner partners, higher unemployment rates and federal workforce cuts have led to a growing prospect of slowing growth in the world's largest economy after months of surpassing China and Europe. Bond traders show an increased risk of a US economy stalling, but President Donald Trump says the economy is facing a “transition period.”

“Through Trump 2.0 shootings and tariff fog, it's becoming difficult to shape the economy,” said Ed Yadeni, president of Yaldeni Research. “It's no wonder that the default position in the stock market is risk-off and stocks have been revised.”

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Traders are piled up in the short-term Treasury Department, where they will significantly cut yields for two years from mid-February, and the Federal Reserve will soon resume cut rates to prevent the economy from worsening. The movement marks a sudden face for the financial market, where the dominant driving force of the past few years, was the incredible resilience of the US economy, even if growth weakened overseas.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly said that increasing uncertainty between businesses could slow demand for the US economy, but there is no need for changes in interest rates. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell also acknowledged an increase in uncertainty in the US economic outlook on Friday. Additionally, he hopes the path to 2% inflation will continue, suggesting that price increases from tariffs could be temporary.

“We will be tactically cautious about risk assets,” writes JPMorgan Chase & Co analyst led by Fabio Bassy. “The increased uncertainty in policy over the past few weeks, the volatility around the potential Russian/Ukraine ceasefire, and new unprecedented information on German/EU fiscal plans have caused two extremely unstable weeks with a sudden adjustment of positions.”

Wall Street strategists have debated whether the Trump administration will depend on tariff plans when stocks fall. The idea is that if the stock market he promotes as a report card drops investors and is rattling, Trump will abandon his policy. Various companies mapped how well Trump could survive before retreating on the S&P 500 index. That index level is now known as a “tramp put” by referring to the put option.

“We're excited to be able to help you get the most out of our business,” said Kyle Roda, senior analyst at Capital.com in Melbourne. “He's seriously focused on important structural changes to the economy, even at the expense of short-term growth. This completely flies in the face of a rather important axiom in the market, which means there's always a rather tight “Trump putt” that supports the stock market. ”

European stock markets and common currencies have gained filling from Germany, where financial austerity and regions are moving away from areas where the region is strengthening military defenses. The Euro Stoxx 50 futures pointed to a higher opening on Monday.

Read: Musk calls us to stop NATO and stop paying for Europe's defense

Last month, U.S. employment growth increased by 151,000 in non-farm payroll calculations in February after a downward revision of the previous month, data on Friday showed. The unemployment rate rose to 4.1%.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Rupal Agarwal, an Asian quantitative strategist at Sanford C. Bernstein, told Bloomberg Television that tariffs and Trump's policies have “begun to have “severe pressure” on the stock market. “There's hope that inflationary pressures can creep up again, so I'd say it's too early to use R-Word, but I'm definitely heading towards stagflation,” she said of the recession.

In Asia, Chinese consumer inflation fell more than expected, falling below zero for the first time in 13 months. Investors are currently looking for signs that government stimuli are being converted into strong domestic demand.

Separately, China said it would charge retaliation fees for imports of rapeseed oil, pork and seafood from Canada as the trade war escalates. The canola was slid due to replacement limits.

In Canada, Mark Kearney won the race and became the country's next prime minister.

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