London — World stocks hit a 12-day trough on Monday as fears for economic growth sent investors dashing for safe-haven assets, but the selloff lost some momentum after better-than-expected data from Germany.
But the Ifo report lent some cheer. It helped European shares rise off early lows. Paris traded flat, London's FTSE was down 0.2%, and Frankfurt inched up 0.14% after the numbers. Europe's banking as well as industrial goods & services sectors which were down 1% at one point, recouped losses to trade flat by 950 GMT.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe slipped 0.5%. The gloomy mood was expected to spread to US markets with S&P 500 futures skidding 0.2%. However, they were down as much as 0.5% earlier in the day. "The bond market price action is an enormous blaring siren to anyone trying to be optimistic on stocks," JPMorgan analysts said in a note to clients.