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LONDON — Europe's stock markets slid on Tuesday as trade war fears and technology sector woes took their toll, while Wall Street managed small gains after a massive sell-off the previous day.

The very partial rebound in American stocks, sparked by bargain-hunting, helped European bourses off their worst levels, traders said.

"US stocks are higher in early action, coming off a sharp drop yesterday that came courtesy of festering global trade war concerns and the persistent weakness in the technology sector", Charles Schwab analysts said.

But the Dow's firmer trend at the opening "pales in comparison to the losses recorded on Monday and reflects ongoing weakness in stocks," warned Craig Erlam at OANDA.

Global equities experienced their worst three months in over two years between January and March, Lukman Otunuga at FXTM noted.

Worst April since depression 

"Retaliatory tariffs announced by China resulted in stocks suffering their worst start to April since the great depression," he said.

All three major European markets were shut on Friday and Monday, as investors enjoyed a four-day holiday weekend.

Despite Tuesday's weakness, European markets still did much better than Wall Street's combined Monday and Tuesday performance, said Jasper Lawler at the London Capital Group.

"Europe is out of the firing line for Trump's tariffs for now and has a lower weighting in technology companies compared to the US," he said. "Both factors make Europe a relative haven from the current negative news flow."

Asian stock markets, which also traded on Monday, ended mixed, as fears of a trade war between the United States and China loomed large.

 Value-sapping trade war

"There was no real letup this Tuesday, the European indices continuing to play catch-up with Monday's value-sapping trade war developments," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.

Wall Street had plunged around two per cent on Monday after China slapped tariffs on 128 US exports worth $3 billion including fruit and pork.

The Dow tumbled 1.9 per cent, the broad-based S&P 500 2.2 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 2.7 per cent.

China's action — the latest tit-for-tat over US President Donald Trump's duties on steel and aluminium — followed weeks of rhetoric that has raised fears of a trade war between the world's two biggest economies.

Overall, Asian stock market losses were not as bad as first feared at the open, with stocks across the region clawing back ground later in the session.

"The impact from the US market turned out not to be so bad as to incite terror here thanks to lingering hopes that tensions may ease in the weeks to come,” noted Makoto Sengoku, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.

NEW YORK — US stocks tumbled on Monday, weighed down by Amazon.com after US President Donald Trump again attacked the online retailer, while the dollar slid as China raised tariffs on US products in an escalating spat between the world’s two biggest economies.

China bumped tariffs up to 25 per cent on 128 US products, from frozen pork and wine to certain fruits and nuts, in response to US duties on imports of aluminum and steel.

Gold snapped a three-session losing streak and the dollar fell after the tariffs, which are due to take effect on Monday, announced late Sunday by China’s finance ministry.

Trading was light as major European markets were closed for the Easter holiday on Monday. Markets in Australia and Hong Kong also were shut.

Shares of Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Google parent Alphabet dominated trading on MSCI’s all-country world stock index, which fell 0.91 per cent. The four companies were also the biggest drag on the benchmark S&P 500 index.

Trump’s comments on Amazon weighed on the equity market but further news on US-China trade later this week is drawing investor interest, said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. in Boston.

“Everybody is bracing for that,” Kleintop said of expected US tariffs on $50 billion to $60 billion worth of annual imports from China that will likely intensify US - China tensions.

The Trump administration will unveil by Friday a list of advanced technology Chinese imports targeted for US tariffs to punish Beijing over technology transfer policies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 544.13 points, or 2.26 per cent, to 23,558.98, the S&P 500 lost 64.75 points, or 2.45 per cent, to 2,576.12 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 192.21 points, or 2.72 per cent, to 6,871.24.

Shares of Amazon.com Inc. fell 4.8 per cent after Trump attacked the online retailer over the pricing of its deliveries through the US postal system and promised unspecified changes.

“Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money-losing Post Office makes money with Amazon,” Trump tweeted.

Emerging market stocks were down 0.17 per cent.

The dollar fell for a second straight session. The dollar index fell 0.04 per cent, with the euro down 0.3 per cent to $1.2284. The Japanese yen firmed 0.23 per cent at 106.05 per dollar. 

Oil fell below $68 a barrel, reversing an earlier rally, as a rise in Russian production and concern about a US-China trade spat offset a drop in US drilling activity. 

US drillers cut seven oil rigs in the week to March 29, bringing the total down to 797, the first decline in three weeks. The rig count is closely watched as an indicator of future US oil output.

US crude fell $1.81 to $63.13 per barrel, and Brent was last at $67.88, down $1.46 on the day.

US Treasury yields rose, with benchmark 10-year notes down 1/32 in price to yield 2.7461 per cent.

Spot gold added 1.1 per cent to $1,338.04 an ounce.

BEIJING - China has increased tariffs by up to 25 percent on 128 U.S. products including frozen pork, wine and certain fruits and nuts, escalating a spat between the world's biggest economies in response to U.S. duties on imports of aluminium and steel.

The tariffs, to take effect on Monday, were announced late on Sunday by China's finance ministry and matched a list of potential tariffs on up to $3 billion in U.S. goods published by China on March 23

Soon after the announcement, an editorial in the widely read Chinese tabloid Global Times warned that if the U.S. had thought China would not retaliate or would only take symbolic counter-measures, it can now "say goodbye to that delusion."

"Even though China and the U.S. have not publicly said they are in a trade war, the sparks of such a war have already started to fly," the editorial said.

China's Ministry of Commerce said it was suspending its obligations to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reduce tariffs on 120 U.S. goods, including fruit and ethanol. The tariffs on those products will be raised by an extra 15 percent.

Eight other products, including pork and scrap aluminium, will now be subject to additional tariffs of 25 percent, it said, with the measures effective from April 2.

"China's suspension of its tariff concessions is a legitimate action adopted under WTO rules to safeguard China's interests," the Chinese finance ministry said.

The retaliatory tariffs came amid escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington, which have rocked global financial markets in the past week as investors feared a full-blown trade spat between two countries will be damaging for world growth.

U.S. President Donald Trump is separately preparing to impose tariffs of more than $50 billion on Chinese goods intended to punish Beijing over U.S. accusations that China systematically misappropriated American intellectual property - allegations Beijing denies.

China has repeatedly promised to open its economy further, but many foreign companies continue to complain of unfair treatment. China warned the United States on Thursday not to open a Pandora's Box and spark a flurry of protectionist practices across the globe.

"There are some people in the West who think that China looks tough for the sake of a domestic audience, and would easily make concessions in the end," the Global Times editorial said.

"But they are wrong."

The Global Times is run by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, although its stance does not necessarily reflect Chinese government policy.

In a statement published on Monday morning, the Chinese commerce ministry said the United States had "seriously violated" the principles of non-discrimination enshrined in World Trade Organization rules, and had also damaged China's interests.

"China's suspension of some of its obligations to the United States is its legitimate right as a member of the World Trade Organization," it said, adding that differences between the world's two largest economies should be resolved through dialogue and negotiation.

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia plans to issue tenders to consolidate consultancy services for government infrastructure projects in the coming months in a bid to improve efficiency and bring fresh momentum to stalled developments, government sources said.

The kingdom plans to hire a consultancy at each ministry or state entity to supervise its pipeline of projects worth billions of dollars, according to one draft request for proposal (RFP) seen by Reuters.

Currently, some entities and ministries like housing, health, power and municipalities use multiple consultants per project. Local and international consultants do project design and execution, while government entities and ministries monitor.

The new plan aims to outsource these services for five years during which the winning bidders will train Saudis so government bodies ultimately have the capability to manage such work themselves.

It also aims to trim waste in state spending, combat corruption and help revive a slump in the construction industry at a critical time for the economy as Saudi Arabia embarks on an ambitious economic transformation plan that includes development of major projects such as the $500 billion NEOM business zone in the northwest of the country.

Recognised regional and foreign consultants with expertise in applying international project management standards are expected to win the contracts. 

Saudi Arabia's construction sector has slumped in recent years as the government delayed payments to contractors and lower oil prices squeezed the state budget for new projects.

The RFPs are being finalised and tendering, worth millions of dollars, is expected to start in coming months, with five-year contracts to be awarded by the end of 2018, government sources told Reuters.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is not yet public.

The total value of the contracts has not been finalised, but one source said the contract his ministry is planning to tender could reach 5 billion riyals ($1.3 billion).

Countering the slump 

The kingdom has spent billions of dollars on mega-projects over the past decades, but the absence of a standard mechanism for planning, follow up, and accountability has resulted in many projects being stalled or delayed.

Work on King Abdullah Financial District for example, a $10 billion mega project in the capital Riyadh, began in 2006 but has been plagued by construction delays, cost overruns and doubts about the initial economic feasibility study.

Saudi Arabia’s government is now moving to standardise infrastructure project delivery across the kingdom. The project management office at each ministry and state entity will be overseen by the National Project Management Organisation (NMPO) — which was set up in 2016 as part of a broad government effort to overhaul the economy and close a gaping budget deficit.

The government hired US-based Bechtel Corporation,  of the world's largest industrial contractors, to run the NPMO — Mashroat in Arabic.

Consultancy Faithful+Gould has said the roll out of project management offices across government sectors would speed up delivery of priority projects and was a positive development for the industry following two years of contraction and uncertainty.

In a January 2018 report, Faithful+Gould forecast Saudi Arabia to award infrastructure contracts in 2018 worth $35 billion across government sectors. 

BEIJING — Growth in China's manufacturing sector picked up more than expected in March as authorities lifted winter industrial pollution restrictions and steel mills cranked up production as construction activity swings back into high gear.

The official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) released on Saturday rose to 51.5 in March, from 50.3 in February, and was well above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast the reading would pick up slightly to 50.5. February's print had been the lowest in one-and-a-half years, but many analysts suspected it was due to disruptions related to the long Lunar New Year holidays.

The March survey showed manufacturers shifted into higher gear as seasonal demand picked up. The sub-index for output jumped to 53.1 from 50.3 in February, while total new orders rose to 53.3 from 51 and export orders climbed to 51.3 from 49.

Driving the positive sentiment are better-than-expected exports in the first two months of the year, particularly in tech shipments, the fastest-growing segment of China's industrial sector. 

A sub PMI for the hi-tech manufacturing sector stood at 53.2 in March, down from 54.0 in February.

However, a sharp escalation in trade tensions with the United States is clouding the outlook for both China's "old economy" heavy industries and "new economy" tech firms.

The Trump administration slapped hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium imports last week and then targeted China specifically by announcing plans for additional tariffs of up to $60 billion of Chinese goods, which are expected to focus largely on its tech and telecommunications products.

A resurgent yuan has also weighed on exporters' confidence. The Chinese currency has gained more than 3 per cent against the US dollar this year, on top of a 6.7 per cent rise in 2017.

This spring could see a major test of Chinese manufacturers' surprising one-and-a-half year run.

In the first quarter, China's steel companies defied expectations for a winter lull and continued to ramp up output in response to strong sales, while boosting borrowing, capital expenditure and hiring, a survey from the China Beige Book showed on Wednesday.

Production increased further after winter smog controls expired on March 15 in many areas.

A separate PMI on the steel sector rose to 50.6 in March from 49.5 in February, the China Logistics Information Centre said.

But the burst in output has pushed steel inventories to multi-year highs, sending prices sharply lower and reducing mills' profit margins.

At the same time, growth in property sales and new construction starts appears to be slowing, and Beijing has hit the brakes on some local governments' infrastructure spending due to concerns over high debt levels.

Overall, China's economic data so far this year suggest the economy has carried more growth momentum into the first quarter from last year than expected, with a government think tank forecasting the economy will grow 6.9 per cent in the first half.

That would keep synchronised global growth on track for a while longer. But economists are sticking to forecasts that China's pace will slow to around 6.5 per cent by the end of the year, weighed down by the cooling property market and rising borrowing costs, even if there are no global trade shocks.

Boosted by government infrastructure spending, a resilient housing market and unexpected strength in exports, China's manufacturing and industrial firms helped the economy produce better-than-expected growth of 6.9 per cent in 2017.

A sister survey showed activity in China's service sector rose in March. 

The services sector accounts for over half of China's economy, with rising wages giving Chinese consumers more spending clout.

ZURICH — Switzerland has become a global hub for cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology they are built on, with investors flocking to the wealthy Alpine nation to get in on the virtual action.

The country's largest city, Zurich, set up its first bitcoin ATM four years ago, while the Swiss national rail company has since 2016 provided the possibility of purchasing the virtual currency at over 1,000 distributors across the country.

Just a half-hour drive from Zurich is the small town of Zug, which thanks to a business-friendly taxation scheme has long been a global economic hub and is home to tens of thousands of companies, including large investment firms, pharmaceutical companies and commodity trading groups.

But for the past few years, a new category of company has descended on the town, which in high-tech circles has been dubbed "Crypto Valley".

That is the name of an association set up in Zug in 2013 with the explicit aim of drawing startups dabbling in virtual currency technologies, creation and trading to the town.

The push worked. Out of the world's six biggest Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) — an unregulated means to raise funds for new cryptocurrency ventures — last year, four took place in Switzerland, according to Swiss financial watchdog Finma.

Blockchain technology allows for the development of peer-to-peer payment systems. It runs by recording transactions as "blocks" that are updated in real time on a digitised ledger that can be read from anywhere and does not have a central record keeper.

Zug is currently home to some 200 blockchain companies including the foundation behind ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin.

The town has also since 2016 accepted bitcoin payments for council services.

The southern Italian-speaking Swiss town of Chiasso, which is attempting to compete with Zug as a "CryptoPolis", has meanwhile decided to accept bitcoin payments for some taxes.

 Money laundering fears 

Faced with a "sharp increase" in the number of ICOs, Finma last month published guidelines detailing the regulatory requirements for such fundraising schemes.

"Creating transparency at this time is important given the dynamic market and the high level of demand," the regulator said.

It warned that it was in particular important to protect against money laundering, since the risk was high "in a decentralised blockchain-based system, in which assets can be transferred anonymously and without any regulated intermediaries".

Switzerland's famous banking sector has been divided in the face of the flood of new virtual currencies on the markets.

Some Swiss banks were among the first to dive into the cryptocurrency pool.

Vontobel for instance created the first structured bitcoin product, a tracker which allows for investment in shifting values of the virtual currency without purchasing the coins directly.

Falcon Private Bank has, meanwhile, offered asset management services for a range of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ethereum, while financial and trading services group Swissquote offers trading in five virtual currencies.

Switzerland's two largest banks UBS and Credit Suisse have, however, so far kept their distance from the crypto boom.

In an interview with the NZZ am Sonntag weekly late last year, UBS chairman Axel Weber, a former head of the German central bank, warned of significant "design flaws" in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

UBS has decided to warn clients against investing in the virtual currency, he said, because the bank does "not consider it valuable and not sustainable".

WASHINGTON — The world's largest economy grew significantly faster at the end of 2017 than previously reported, with revised data showing stronger consumer spending and business investment, the government reported on Wednesday.

GDP grew 2.9 per cent in the fourth quarter, 0.4 points higher than the prior estimate, the Commerce Department said. That rate was significantly faster growth than analysts were expecting.

The rosier result for the October-December period did not take into account December's sweeping $1.5 trillion tax cuts, which economists say should boost growth in the near term.

The third and final estimate of economic growth, based on a fuller set of data, was just shy of President Donald Trump's target of 3 per cent annual growth.

But for the full year the growth rate was unchanged at 2.3 per cent, faster than the 1.5 per cent seen in 2016, but still well below Trump's goal and the 2.9 per cent expansion seen in 2015.

The Trump administration is counting on an acceleration of growth to pay for the December tax cuts, which are expected to swell the budget deficit and add to the mounting US sovereign debt.

However, economists say this may be unrealistic and current forecasts point to growth of below 2 per cent in the first quarter of 2018, although first quarters typically are slower than annual growth.

The upward bump to the fourth-quarter growth estimate came from higher consumer spending on transportation, higher wholesale business inventories and updated statistical adjustments to account for seasonal factors, according to the Commerce Department.

The higher consumer spending on transportation saw US services grow by 2.3 per cent in the quarter, up two-tenths from the prior estimate and the fastest expansion in seven years.

Consumer spending on goods also saw its biggest quarterly bounce in more than 11 years after an upward revision of three tenths to 7.8 per cent growth.

Despite the accelerating economic growth, corporate profits stagnated in the quarter, falling 0.1 per cent after the prior quarter's $90.2 billion increase.

The financial sector saw a $14.6 per cent decrease but the non-financial sector experienced a $19.4 billion increase for the quarter.

Profits for 2017 were up $91.2 billion after the $44 billion decline in the prior year. 

The December tax cuts imposed a one-time repatriation tax on foreign earnings, recorded as a $250 billion quarterly capital transfer from businesses to the federal government, according to the Commerce Department.