Recession fears hit Wall Street after grim China, German data

By Medha Singh

(Reuters) – Wall Street was set to open sharply lower on Wednesday, as poor economic data from China and Germany put the focus back on the impact of a bruising Sino-U.S. trade war which is pushing some major economies toward the brink of recession.

The outlook for Germany’s export reliant economy was also grim and Chinese industrial output growth cooled to a more than 17-year low, adding to headwinds for U.S. multinationals that rely on global demand.

The U.S. bond market showed red flags, with two-year Treasury yields rising above those for 10-year paper for the first time since 2007, pointing to the risk of recession.

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Wall Street’s main indexes surged more than 1.5% on Tuesday after Washington delayed the introduction of tariffs on some Chinese consumer goods.

“It’s almost as if global investors either don’t buy the tariff delay as a sign of real progress in the U.S.-China trade war or have been too consumed by further evidence of global economic weakness to care,” BMO Capital Markets strategist Stephen Gallo said.

At 8:28 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis  were down 361 points, or 1.37%. S&P 500 e-minis were down 39.25 points, or 1.34% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 119 points, or 1.54%.

Banks were among the losers in trading before the bell, with Bank of America Corp (N:BAC), Citigroup Inc (N:C), JPMorgan Chase & Co (N:JPM), Goldman Sachs (N:GS), Wells Fargo & Co (N:WFC) and Morgan Stanley (N:MS) down between 2.3% and 3.1%.

Shares of Apple Inc (O:AAPL) were down 2.3% after boosting markets a day earlier with a 4% rise.

Chipmakers were also trading lower, with Micron Technology Inc (O:MU), Broadcom Inc (O:AVGO) and Nvidia Corp (O:NVDA) down more than 2%.

Macy’s Inc (N:M) tumbled 12.9% after the department store operator cut its full-year profit forecast as it discounted heavily to clear excess spring season inventory.

Rivals Target Corp (N:TGT) and Nordstrom Inc (N:JWN) slipped between 3.8% and 4.5%