US GDP Report: US growth worries cast shadow

NEW YORK: Traders dumped retail US stocks Friday, with giant Walmart losing 3.0%, after a weak report on American consumer spending added to worries about the strength of the economy. Coming on the heels of Thursday’s disappointing US GDP report, the concerns about the world’s largest economy trumped unexpectedly strong eurozone growth data and the tenacious hold of oil prices above $45 a barrel. Wall Street’s losses - the Dow fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.6% - capped a day in which nearly all leading markets tumbled. While the Tokyo market was closed, Hong Kong shares sank 1.5%, Frankfurt fell 2.7%, and London 1.3%. The report that US growth slowed sharply to just 0.5% in the first quarter of the year, combined with the Japanese central bank’s shock decision to not deploy more stimulus, left investors from Asia to Europe and the Americas in a sour mood.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1^st, 2016.

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