“Stocks fell for a fourth day in Europe and oil declined on concern the global economic recovery is faltering. Portugal’s bonds rallied after theSocial Democrats won elections pledging austerity measures.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.5 percent at 7:25 a.m. in New York. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.2 percent. Crude oil retreated before OPEC ministers meet this week in Vienna. The yen strengthened against all 16 of its major peers, adding 0.4 percent to 80.09 per dollar. The yield on Portugal’s 10-year bond decreased 10 basis points to 9.71 percent.
More than $2 trillion has been erased from the market value of global equities since this year’s peak on May 1 as disappointing economic data, capped by last week’s U.S. jobs report, sent the S&P 500 to its fifth weekly decline on June 3. Pedro Passos Coelho, Portugal’s incoming Social Democratic prime minister, said he would forge a coalition to meet conditions of the country’s 78 billion-euro ($114 billion) bailout.
“Since peaking in early May, markets have steadily moved lower as the constant stream of weak data points to a slowing global recovery,” said Jonathan Sudaria, a trader at London Capital Group. “The debate amongst traders is whether this is a mere correction in the 2 1/2-yearbull market or are fundamental weaknesses lining up to push markets significantly lower?””
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