Stock market today: World follows Wall St lower as Chinese leader meets top US diplomat

On Monday, the worldwide stock markets mimicked the drop in Wall Street prices. This occurred following a meeting between the highest-ranking U.S. diplomat and the leader of China. Unfortunately, no advancements were made regarding the numerous conflicts currently in existence between both countries.

At the beginning of the day, the stock markets of London and Paris started with a decrease. Shanghai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong also had a retreat. Because of a holiday, the U.S. markets were not available on Monday. The cost of oil dropped.

On Friday, the S&P 500 index of Wall Street dropped 0.4% when the Federal Reserve decided to keep its lending rate as it is but cautioned that it may have to increase it in the future to control inflation.

After having "frank and detailed" discussions with foreign affairs officials, Xi Jinping had a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. This took place amidst deteriorating relations between China and the United States. Both parties expressed their eagerness to cooperate in resolving major issues.

Yeap Jun Rong from IG stated in a report that it is yet to be determined if any positive results will come from this. If no action is taken, any hope for improvement may eventually fade away.

At the start of the day, the FTSE 100 in London decreased by 0.4%, settling at 7,608.25 points. Likewise, the DAX in Frankfurt decreased by 0.6% to 16,268.19, while the CAC 40 in Paris suffered a decline of 0.5%, ending at 7,345.33 points.

In the Wall Street realm, the futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by a tiny margin of less than 0.1%.

Last Friday, there was a 0.3% drop in the Dow and a 0.7% decrease in the Nasdaq Composite.

The S&P 500 is currently at its highest point in the past 14 months, with an increase of 15% since the beginning of the year.

The Shanghai Composite Index experienced a 0.5% decrease to reach 3,255.80 following the meeting between Xi and Blinken in Asia.

Xi announced through a statement that the two parties have reached a consensus to implement the mutual understanding that he and President Joe Biden established during a meeting in Indonesia in December.

The blog didn't show any signs of improvement regarding the disputes surrounding Taiwan, human rights, technology, and security. These issues have caused problems in the relationship between countries and have negatively affected the trade of certain goods such as semiconductors.

The stock market index, Nikkei 225, experienced a significant decline of 1% in Tokyo, resulting in a current standing of 33,370.42. Additionally, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong faced a drop of 0.6%, bringing its current position to 19,912.89.

The Kospi, located in Seoul, went down by 0.6%, and it currently stands at 2,609.50. On the other hand, Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 index went up by 0.6%, and it is now at 7,294.90.

The Indian Sensex dropped down by 0.3% and now stands at 63,224.32. Southeast Asian markets and New Zealand also experienced a decrease.

The previous week, the Federal Reserve kept its customary loaning rate unchanged, ending its streak of announcing an increase every month for the last decade.

Although the Fed cautioned about the possibility of raising rates two more times this year, Wall Street predicts that rates will increase during its upcoming meeting on July 25-26.

On Friday, a study indicated that people in the United States are lowering their estimates for inflation that may come up soon. The initial findings from the investigation at the University of Michigan also indicated that the opinion of consumers is increasing more than what was predicted.

The value of standard American crude decreased by 16 cents to $71.77 per barrel when traded electronically on the New York Mercantile Exchange within the energy markets. However, the contract managed to increase by $1.16 on Friday to reach $71.78. Meanwhile, Brent crude, which is the basis for the price of oil in global trading, fell by 17 cents to $76.44 per barrel in London. But it had gained 94 cents in the previous trading session, reaching $76.61 per barrel.

On Friday, the value of the dollar against the yen increased slightly from 141.80 yen to 141.89 yen. Conversely, the euro depreciated against the dollar, as its worth declined from $1.0943 to $1.0921.