World markets retreated Wednesday after a disappointing survey of the U.S. services sector rekindled worries that the recovery in the world's largest economy will be anemic.
After losses across most of Asia, major indexes in Europe traded lower. Britain's FTSE of leading shares was down 0.7 percent at 4,929.73. Germany's DAX was 0.6 percent lower at 5,904.99 and France's CAC-40 was off 0.8 percent to 3,395.91.
U.S. futures augured a weak open on Wall Street. Dow futures were down 0.2 percent at 9,663 while the Standard and Poor's 500 futures lost 0.3 percent to 1,020.70.
After rallying Tuesday due to bargain-hunting, markets reversed course after a U.S. survey showed the services sector there was growing at a weaker pace, mostly because of concerns about a slowdown in the global economy — particularly due to the European debt crisis.
Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, said U.S. economic growth was already expected to be hurt by the withdrawal of stimulus measures and a relapse in the house market.
"It now appears that the slowdown in global growth will be an additional restraint on the U.S. economy," he said, although he does not forecast this will be severe enough to cause a double-dip recession.
In Europe, investors will be preparing for a European Central Bank policy announcement on Thursday. While interest rates are expected to be left at a record low, the focus will be on any comments about lending conditions and the results from the EU's stress tests on banks.
Those results, due to be published later this month, will be parsed for hints about the health of the European banking sector and its exposure to the debt crisis — the value of some government debt has fallen sharply — and tight liquidity.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average closed down 0.6 percent at 9,279.65 as a strong yen kept pressure on exporter shares. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.1 percent to 19,857.07 and Seoul's Kospi lost 0.6 percent to 1,675.65.
Benchmarks in Taiwan, India and Australia also declined, while those in Thailand and New Zealand were higher.
"There are not many people buying stocks right now," said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong.
"I have given up hope on Europe. Europe will be mired in recession because of deficit-cutting."
Lun also called the U.S. economic recovery "anemic" and said softening export orders in China hit market sentiment hard.
The exception was the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which edged up 0.5 percent to close at 2,421.12 on reports that the government social security fund was buying shares to help boost the market.
Strains on liquidity also eased as Agricultural Bank of China wrapped up subscriptions for a record share offering expected to raise a total $22.1 billion.
In currencies, the dollar was trading at 87.25 yen, down from 87.54 yen late Tuesday. The euro fell to $1.2572 from $1.2625.
Benchmark crude for August delivery was up 26 cents to $72.24 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 16 cents to settle at $71.98 on Tuesday
After losses across most of Asia, major indexes in Europe traded lower. Britain's FTSE of leading shares was down 0.7 percent at 4,929.73. Germany's DAX was 0.6 percent lower at 5,904.99 and France's CAC-40 was off 0.8 percent to 3,395.91.
U.S. futures augured a weak open on Wall Street. Dow futures were down 0.2 percent at 9,663 while the Standard and Poor's 500 futures lost 0.3 percent to 1,020.70.
After rallying Tuesday due to bargain-hunting, markets reversed course after a U.S. survey showed the services sector there was growing at a weaker pace, mostly because of concerns about a slowdown in the global economy — particularly due to the European debt crisis.
Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, said U.S. economic growth was already expected to be hurt by the withdrawal of stimulus measures and a relapse in the house market.
"It now appears that the slowdown in global growth will be an additional restraint on the U.S. economy," he said, although he does not forecast this will be severe enough to cause a double-dip recession.
In Europe, investors will be preparing for a European Central Bank policy announcement on Thursday. While interest rates are expected to be left at a record low, the focus will be on any comments about lending conditions and the results from the EU's stress tests on banks.
Those results, due to be published later this month, will be parsed for hints about the health of the European banking sector and its exposure to the debt crisis — the value of some government debt has fallen sharply — and tight liquidity.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average closed down 0.6 percent at 9,279.65 as a strong yen kept pressure on exporter shares. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.1 percent to 19,857.07 and Seoul's Kospi lost 0.6 percent to 1,675.65.
Benchmarks in Taiwan, India and Australia also declined, while those in Thailand and New Zealand were higher.
"There are not many people buying stocks right now," said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong.
"I have given up hope on Europe. Europe will be mired in recession because of deficit-cutting."
Lun also called the U.S. economic recovery "anemic" and said softening export orders in China hit market sentiment hard.
The exception was the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which edged up 0.5 percent to close at 2,421.12 on reports that the government social security fund was buying shares to help boost the market.
Strains on liquidity also eased as Agricultural Bank of China wrapped up subscriptions for a record share offering expected to raise a total $22.1 billion.
In currencies, the dollar was trading at 87.25 yen, down from 87.54 yen late Tuesday. The euro fell to $1.2572 from $1.2625.
Benchmark crude for August delivery was up 26 cents to $72.24 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 16 cents to settle at $71.98 on Tuesday
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