Australia

Australian shares are expected to open lower after losses on Wall Street overnight.

At 7am Sydney time the SPI200 futures contract was down 12 points, or 0.19 per cent, at 6,185.0, suggesting a dip for the benchmark S&P/ASX200.

The Aussie dollar is buying US71.24 cents from US71.44 cents yesterday.

Australian shares closed flat yesterday, with US casino operator Wynn Resorts’ $10 billion takeover offer for Crown Resorts providing most of the day’s excitement.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 0.4 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 6,221.8 points, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 4.7 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 6,315.5.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.72 per cent, the S&P 500 was down 0.61 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 0.56 per cent.

Wynn Resorts has shut down a $10 billion takeover offer for Crown Resorts, blaming the “premature” disclosure of what the Las Vegas gambling giant described as preliminary negotiations.

The global economy is facing a “delicate moment,” beset with risks as the recovery loses steam amid trade tensions, Brexit and other factors, the International Monetary Fund warned.

The IMF’s World Economic Outlook once again downgraded global growth to 3.3 per cent for 2019, two tenths lower than the global crisis lender forecast in January and four tenths lower than October.

Australia’s economic growth will slow at almost twice the speed of other advanced nations this year, according to the IMF’s latest outlook.

Asia

China’s blue chip CSI300 index rose on Tuesday as Beijing took steps to encourage urbanisation to support economic growth, but the broader Shanghai index ended lower on uncertainty over trade talks with the US and upcoming data releases.

At the close, the blue-chip CSI300 index gained 0.5 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.2 per cent at 3,239.66 points.

Stocks in Hong Kong rose on Tuesday after a fresh Chinese policy support to boost economic growth drove the mainland market higher.

At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was up 0.3 per cent at 30,157.49, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 0.2 per cent.

Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index firmed 0.3 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.2 per cent.

Europe

European shares slid on Tuesday, with most sectors falling after the United States threatened to slap tariffs on goods from the European Union, with worries compounded by the IMF cutting its global growth forecast.

The US Trade Representative proposed a list of European Union products late on Monday on which to slap tariffs in retaliation to more than $11 billion of EU subsidies to Airbus the World Trade Organisation has found cause “adverse effects” to the US.

The IMF on Tuesday cut its global economic growth forecasts for 2019, citing a potentially disorderly British exit from the European Union as a key risk.

The pan-region STOXX 600 index fell 0.3 per cent, slipping away from an about eight month-peak seen earlier in the day. Germany’s trade-sensitive DAX dropped 0.9 per cent.

Airbus slid 1.6 per cent after the US included large commercial aircraft and parts on its proposed tariff list of EU products. The European planemaker said it saw no legal basis for the move.

Airbus’s stock has broadly benefited from issues plaguing rival Boeing Co’s after an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX plane crash spurred a production cut by the US company.

Suppliers to Airbus such as Safran SA, Leonardo and Rolls-Royce Holdings shed between 1.3 per cent and 2.1 per cent on the day.

Safran’s stock has been hit in recent weeks, as the French firm has been swept up in the turmoil around Boeing Co, to whom a Safran-General Electric Co joint venture supplies engines.

Premier Li Keqiang of China, the US’s long-time trade enemy, promised his European Union hosts Beijing will no longer force foreign firms to share sensitive know-how when operating in China and was ready to address industrial subsidies.

European technology stocks had a particularly bruising day, falling 1.5 per cent in their worst session in two and a half weeks.

SAP led losses on the sector index with a 3.4 per cent slide after it was downgraded by UBS and HSBC. The stock fell for a fourth straight day.

Oil and gas stocks slipped 0.8 per cent, after hitting a near six-month peak earlier on Tuesday. Global oil benchmark Brent fell on Russian comments signaling the possible easing of a supply-cutting deal with OPEC.

Bank stocks edged up 0.1 per cent, rising for the first time in three sessions to help restrain the broad benchmark from incurring a steeper loss.

The European Central Bank is expected to hold borrowing costs on Wednesday, the same day British Prime Minister Theresa May’s request to delay Brexit until 30 June will be formally discussed by EU leaders at a special summit.

North America

Trade-sensitive industrials dragged Wall Street lower on Tuesday as tensions over tariffs between the United States and its European trading partners went from simmer to boil and the IMF lowered its global growth outlook.

All three major US stock indexes finished the session in the red, with the S&P 500 ending its eight-day rally.

US President Donald Trump said he would impose tariffs on $11 billion of European goods, raising tensions over aircraft subsidies that threaten to morph into a wider trade war.

Trade disputes, along with Britain’s potentially messy exit from the European Union, led the International Monetary Fund to cut its global economic growth forecasts and warn that further cuts could follow.

First-quarter earnings season is set to begin in earnest, with Delta Airlines reporting on Wednesday and JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co results due on Friday, kicking off what analysts now expect to be the first quarter to show a year-on-year decline in profits since 2016.

January-March earnings for S&P 500 companies are now seen falling by 2.5 per cent from last year, according to Refinitiv data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 190.44 points, or 0.72 per cent, to 26,150.58, the S&P 500 lost 17.57 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 2,878.2 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 44.61 points, or 0.56 per cent, to 7,909.28.

Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, all but utilities and communications services ended the session in the red.

Industrials posted the biggest percentage loss, falling 1.4 per cent.

Boeing Co extended its slump after reporting a drop in deliveries related to the grounding of its 737 MAX jets. Its shares fell 1.5 per cent.

The grounded Boeing aircraft led American Airlines Group Inc to trim its first-quarter revenue forecasts. The airliner’s stock slid 1.7 per cent.

US Steel Corp slid by 10.0 per cent following Credit Suisse’s downgrade of the stock to “underperform.”

Wynn Resorts dipped 3.9 per cent after ending takeover talks with Crown Resorts.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index backed off from Monday’s record high, falling 1.1 per cent.

Among winners, Facebook Inc rose 1.5 per cent after Morgan Stanley upped its price target, citing growing revenues from its Instagram segment.

Levi Strauss & Co jumped 2.7 per cent ahead of its first quarterly report since its IPO.