Global Markets Fell Over Growth Fears on Continued Tit-For-Tat Tariffs

By Dow Jones Newswires StaffMajor global stock markets were down Friday, tracking Wall Street, after a week of central bank action and as tit-for-tat tariffs continued to raise questions over growth.Safe havens, in particular the dollar and gold, continue to benefit from the uncertainty. In Europe, equities and the euro remained under pressure after European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned on Thursday that tariffs would weaken growth and fuel inflation.In a key event of the day, the Bundesrat--Germany's legislative body that represents the 16 German states--is set to vote later on the country's fiscal expansion, with overwhelming expectations that the vote will pass. The German 10-year Bund yield fell by three basis points in early trade.U.S. futures for the S&P 500 were down 0.3% and futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.3%. In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 dropped 0.8%. Shares in Puma and Adidas fell after U.S. sporting-goods giant Nike said Thursday that it expects its sales drop to accelerate. The FTSE 100 lost 0.4%. The CAC 40 and DAX were down around 0.5% and 0.8% respectively.The dollar rose as general risk aversion drove investors to safe havens. The DXY dollar index was last up 0.2% against a basket of major currencies to 104.001 after hitting a two-week high of 104.147 earlier.Gold futures eased a touch, down 0.2% at $3,038.90 a troy ounce, but were holding near the new record high of $3,065.20/oz set on Thursday. Gold is up 14% year-to-date and 1.6% on week.U.S. 10-year Treasury yields edged slightly higher, after falling this week. The rally in U.S. Treasurys this week suggests that markets have taken note of the slowing growth narrative, strategists at Barclays Research said in a note. The 10-year Treasury yield was up 1.5 basis points to 4.248%.Asian shares were mixed with Japanese and Chinese stocks following the weakness on Wall Street. The Nikkei closed 0.2% lower, and JGB bond yields gained half a basis point to 1.520%. In mainland China, shares continued to extend their losses, with some profit-taking after a recent rally.Bitcoin was down 0.2% at $83,960.28.Write to Barcelona Editors at [email protected]