• U.S. stock futures and the dollar fell on Monday while Asian markets struggled as President Donald Trump's failure on healthcare reform raised questions about his ability to push through tax cuts and fiscal spending to boost the economy.
U.S. stock index futures ESc1 fell 0.7 percent to a six-week low in heavy volume, suggesting a weaker start on Wall Street later in the day.
So-called "Trumpflation trades" -- betting on an extended recovery in the U.S. and global economies and related assets such as commodities -- came under heavy selling pressure.
· A stronger-than-anticipated economic recovery, the return of inflation and the region's financial sector in a "sweet spot" has spurred Morgan Stanley to lift its earnings forecasts and targets for European benchmark indexes.
The U.S. bank now sees earnings per share growth for 2017 coming in at 16 percent for the MSCI Europe with the index rising as much as 8 percent over the next 12 months. For the FTSE 100 .FTSE, the broker sees EPS growth of 24 percent and sees the index hitting 7,700 in a year.
• Japan's Nikkei share average skidded 1.4 percent on Monday, wallowing at a six-week low and deepening last week's 1.3 percent loss, on pressure from a resurgent yen.
The Nikkei ended at 18,985.59 points, plumbing to its lowest level since Feb. 9 and losing 0.7 percent for the month so far.
• China stocks slipped on Monday, as any optimism felt from data showing surging profits at industrial firms was offset by fresh property curbs and signs that monetary policy may be further tightened.
The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.3 percent, to 3,478.04 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.1 percent to 3,266.96 points.
Reference: Reuters
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