“Stocks dropped and commodities fell to a nine-month low after China’s economic growth unexpectedly slowed in the first quarter. U.S. equity-index futures declined, while the yen strengthened.
The MSCI All-Country World Index slid 0.5 percent at 9:55 a.m. in London, with the Shanghai Composite Index capping a 10 percent retreat from this year’s peak. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures lost 0.5 percent. The S&P GSCI gauge of 24 raw materials dropped 1.2 percent, led by gold and silver, which dropped more than 6 percent. Oil sank below $90 a barrel and copper retreated to an eight-month low. Japan’s currency appreciated for a third day against the dollar, advancing 0.3 percent to 98.09.
China’s economic growth lost momentum as factory output weakened last month, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing. A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York may show manufacturing in the region expanded for a third month in April. Citigroup Inc. and Charles Schwab Corp. are scheduled to report earnings today.
“China’s data are confirming the underlying concern about its economic outlook,” said Koji Toda, the chief fund manager at Resona Bank Ltd. in Tokyo, which oversees about 15 trillion yen ($153 billion). “Profit-taking is dominating the market as it seems like the yen won’t weaken beyond 100 per dollar soon.”
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.9 percent as a gauge of basic-resources producers slid to the lowest level since October 2011. Randgold Resources Ltd., a miner of the precious metal in West Africa, and Kazakhmys Plc, Kazakhstan’s biggest copper producer, lost more than 6 percent in London trading.
