BANGKOK — Asian stocks got a mixed start to trading Monday as uncertainty persisted over what President Donald Trump will do with tariffs.
U.S. futures were lower and oil prices also fell.
Shares in China led losses in Asia, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index down 2.1% at 23,720.26. The Shanghai Composite index shed 0.6% to 3,352.59.
In the latest sign of weakness for the world’s second-largest economy, consumer prices fell in China in February for the first time in 13 months, as persistent weak demand was compounded by the early timing of the Lunar New Year holiday.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 edged 0.1% higher to 36,936.39. Japan’s trade minister, Yoji Muto, was visiting Washington for talks on ways to avert higher U.S. tariffs on Japanese exports of steel, aluminum, and automobiles.
“Taking into account the voices we have heard from the industrial sector, we would like to hold discussions that will be a win-win for both Japan and the U.S.,” Muto told reporters late last week.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports will take effect Wednesday.
Elsewhere in the region, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.2% at 7,966.40, while the Kospi in South Korea gained 0.4% to 2,574.90.
Taiwan’s Taiex lost 0.4% and the Sensex in India gained 0.3%. Bangkok’s SET slipped 1.1%.
On Friday, Wall Street rose after a wild ending to a brutal week of scary swings dominated by worries about the U.S. economy and uncertainty about what President Donald Trump will do with tariffs.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to 5,770.20 after storming back from an earlier loss that had reached 1.3%. It was coming off a punishing stretch where it swung more than 1%, up or down, for six straight days.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5% to 42,801.72, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.7% to 18,196.22. Last week was the worst for the S&P 500 since September and left the index a little more than 6% below its all-time high set last month.
The head of the Federal Reserve helped ease the market’s worries on Friday afternoon after saying he thinks the economy looks stable at the moment, and he doesn’t feel pressure to cut interest rates in order to prop it up.
“The costs of being cautious are very, very low” right now, Powell said about holding steady on interest rates. “The economy is fine. It doesn’t need us to do anything really. We can wait, and we should wait.”
U.S. Labor Department said Friday that U.S. employers added 151,000 more jobs last month than they cut. That was slightly below economists’ expectations, but it was an acceleration from January’s hiring.
Recent, discouraging surveys had shown souring confidence for U.S. businesses and households because of uncertainty around Trump’s tariffs, and economists were waiting to see if Friday’s report would show if that was translating into real pain for the economy and job market.
The whiplash actions from the White House on tariffs — first placing them on trading partners and then exempting some and then doing it again — have raised uncertainty for businesses.
That sparked fears businesses might freeze in response to what they have described as “chaos” and pull back on hiring. U.S. households, meanwhile, are bracing for higher inflation because of tariffs, which is weakening their confidence and could hold back their spending. That would sap more energy from the economy.
Trump said Friday he wants tariffs to bring jobs back to the United States, and he gave no indication more certainty is imminent for financial markets. “There will always be changes and adjustments,” he said in comments from the Oval Office.
On Wall Street, Walgreens Boots Alliance climbed 7.5% after the pharmacy and drug store chain agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Sycamore Partners. The buyout would take the struggling chain private for the first time since 1927 and give it more flexibility to make changes to improve its business without worrying about Wall Street’s reaction.
In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 38 cents to $66.66 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 35 cents to $70.01 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar slipped to 147.72 Japanese yen from 147.94 yen. The euro fell to $1.0831 from $1.0836.
