US equity futures dropped after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed the market’s recent decline as healthy.
Asian shares rose as data showed expanding consumption in China. Oil also benefited from optimism that demand from top importer China will rise.
The dollar was steady, with European stock futures little changed. Equities advanced in Australia, Japan and South Korea. A key gauge of Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong gained as much as 1.3% before trimming the gain.
China’s onshore benchmark CSI 300 Index fluctuated, reflecting caution on signs of a worsening housing slump in the world’s No. 2 economy.
Asian defense stocks jumped after German peers advanced on an agreement reached between the country’s conservative leader Friedrich Merz and the Green party on a debt-funded spending package for defense and infrastructure.
In Europe, the focus remains on Germany, where Merz’s spending plan still needs approval from lawmakers on Tuesday.
Investors will also likely shift their attention to fresh US retail sales and manufacturing data due later Monday, which can shed more light on the state of the world’s top economy and the policy direction of the Federal Reserve.
