- Grammy-winning Cissy Houston, mother of Whitney, dies at 91
- UN biodiversity summit in Colombia aims to turn words into action
- Georgia Supreme Court reinstates six-week abortion ban
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights multi-front war
- Mexican mayor murdered days after taking office
- Intensifying to Category 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Dupont set for Toulouse return after post-Olympic holiday
- French rugby bosses tighten discipline after nightmare Argentina tour
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Man City and Premier League both claim victory in legal case
- Deschamps delight as 'light back on' for Pogba after doping ban
- Biden, Harris urge Mideast peace on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
- UN warns world's water cycle becoming ever more erratic
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- Ex-Dutch football star Johan Neeskens dies
- Man Utd battling to improve fortunes, says Evans
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Masood, Abdullah centuries lift Pakistan to 328-4 in first England Test
- Hurricane Milton strengthens fast, threatens Mexico, Florida
- Tunisia's President Saied set for landslide election win
- Barca hoping to return to Camp Nou 'by end of year'
- Trump to open second golf course at Scotland resort in summer 2025
- Super-sub Jhon Duran rewarded with new Aston Villa deal
- US duo win Nobel for gene regulation breakthrough
- Masood hits first ton for four years to power Pakistan to 233-1
- Fritz wins delayed match to reach Shanghai Masters third round
- Naomi Osaka pulls out of Japan Open with back injury
- Weather may delay launch of mission to study deflected asteroid
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
- Artist Marina Abramovic hopes first China show offers tech respite
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on US jobs data
- Pakistan 122-1 at lunch in first England Test
- Kazakhs approve plan for first nuclear power plant
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- 'Second family': tennis stars hunt winning formula with new coaches
- Philippines, South Korea agree to deepen maritime cooperation
- Mexico mayor murdered days after taking office
- Sardinia's sheep farmers battle bluetongue as climate warms
- Japan govt admits doctoring 'untidy' cabinet photo
- Israel marks first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack
- Darvish tames Ohtani as Padres thrash Dodgers
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Family affair as LeBron, Bronny James make Lakers bow
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
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Oil prices, stocks slump on growth worries
Oil prices slumped more than four percent and stock markets retreated Tuesday as worries about growth in China and the United States weighed on sentiment.
A stream of indicators, including the latest manufacturing data, has highlighted weakness in the world's two largest economies.
Trade Nation analyst David Morrison said "it seems that the oil market is indicating a lack of confidence in the global economic outlook, not only due to the downturn in China, but also from increasing uncertainty about the pace of any slowdown across the US."
With oil producers reluctant to cut output -- and the OPEC oil cartel and its allies have even been considering boosting production -- oil prices have been on a downward trend.
"The fact that recent data shows no signs of any acceleration in import demand in China, Europe or North America points to a situation where the oil market is not going to be as tight as expected a few months ago," said market analyst Fawad Razaqzada at City Index and FOREX.com.
Oil prices fell even further -- with Brent oil, the main international contract, falling under $74 per barrel to its lowest point this year -- after US manufacturing data came in below forecasts.
While the August reading of the ISM manufacturing survey improved somewhat from July, and will boost the prospects for a faster pace of US interest-rate cuts set to begin this month, investors have recently become worried that the Federal Reserve may have waited too long and the economy may tip into recession.
"With a rate cut in September essentially a done deal, the speed of further cuts will depend on upcoming data," said Razaqzada.
While several US indicators are due out this week, investors will be paying particular attention on Friday's jobs figures as the Fed has indicated it is putting more emphasis on developments in employment as inflation has slowed.
In foreign exchange, the yen strengthened after Bank of Japan chief Kazuo Ueda restated his intention to lift interest rates again if inflation and the economy meet its forecasts.
The bank's surprise decision to hike in July, hours before the Federal Reserve indicated it was ready to begin cutting US borrowing costs, sparked a massive unwind of the so-called "yen carry trade" in which investors used the cheap currency to buy high yielding assets like stocks.
In company news on Tuesday, shares in Cathay Pacific slipped as the Hong Kong carrier said that 15 of its Airbus A350 jets needed new engine parts after inspecting its entire fleet, which was grounded following a "first of its type" engine component failure.
But shares in British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce, whose Trent XWB-97 engines powered the planes, gained 2.4 percent after starting the week with a 6.5-percent drop as not all of Cathay's A350s were affected.
- Key figures around 1530 GMT -
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 4.5 percent at $74.03 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 4.0 percent at $70.61 per barrel
New York - Dow: DOWN 1.0 percent at 41,145.85 points
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 1.3 percent at 5,573.87
New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 2.2 percent at 17,324.52
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.8 percent at 8,298.46 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.8 percent at 7,575.10 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 1.0 percent at 18,747.11 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 1.2 percent at 4,912.52 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: FLAT at 38,686.31 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.2 percent at 17,651.49 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 2,802.98 (close)
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 145.80 yen from 147.01 yen on Monday
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1041 from $1.1067
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3096 from $1.3147
Euro/pound: UP at 84.31 pence from 84.18 pence
burs-rl/giv
M.Fischer--AMWN