U.S. markets declined on Monday after Friday's solid jobs data that fuelled speculations on a mid-year rate-hike. Renewed worries over Greek debt negotiations weighed on the markets. On late Friday S&P downgraded Greece from B- to B, only one notch higher than "default" and kept the outlook for Greece negative. Worries over the world's second largest economy, China, also weighed markets down after data on inflation came in below estimates.
The DOW JONES index lost -0.53% closing at 17,729.21 points. The S&P 500 declined by -0.42% with a final quote of 2,046.74 points with nine out of ten sectors negative. Only the energy sector added gains as oil prices rose.
Chinese stocks traded higher on Tuesday adding the most in a weak. Weak inflation data from China fuelled expectations on further monetary easing by the People's Bank of China to boost the world's second largest economy. China's consumer inflation hit a five-year low and factory deflation deepened. The Chinese PPI declined more-than-expected by -4.3% in January. Economists expected a reading of -3.7%. In December the PPI was at -3.3%. CPI for January came in at +0.8%, lower than the estimated +1.1% further slowing compared to +1.5% in December. Hong Kong's Hang Seng is trading +0.15% at 24,557.27 points. China's Shanghai Composite closed at 3,141.27 points +1.49%.
Japan's Nikkei lost on Tuesday, closing -0.36% with a final quote of 17,652.68 points reversing some of its early losses. Concerns over Greece's bailout and its consequences for the whole Eurozone weighed on the index.