U.S. index futures and various commodities prices are down on Monday amid a general decline in investors’ risk appetite amid information about the ongoing protests in China against anti-covid restrictions.
“We knew we were going to be nervous this morning about the COVID-19 situation in China, but the protests took the market by surprise,” said SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes, quoted by MarketWatch.
December futures for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were down 0.6% by 9:17 a.m. Ksk, the Dow Jones was down 0.4% and the Nasdaq 100 was down 0.7%.
January Brent crude futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell 3.1% to $81 a barrel by 9:17 a.m. Ksk. January WTI futures fell 3% to $73.98 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), which was the lowest level since late last year.
Oil fell 5.4% on the Shanghai exchange.
Base metals in London and Shanghai also fell on Monday. Iron ore prices on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 2%.
Protests were held in cities across the country, including the capital Beijing, as well as Shanghai, Xinjiang and Wuhan, which was originally the epicenter of the COVID-19 spread, Bloomberg reported.
That contributes to a stronger U.S. dollar, which reduces the attractiveness of investments in raw materials, and also raises the possibility of even more significant tightening of restrictions by Chinese authorities, the agency said. It may have a negative impact on economic activity in China, which is the world’s largest consumer of many raw materials.
China’s oil demand could fall to an average of 15.11 million bpd in the fourth quarter, down from 15.82 million bpd for the same period in 2021, Kpler oil analyst Gregory Leckner predicted.
