In Asian Equity Markets stocks slid on Monday after a raft of Chinese data showed a surprisingly sharp slowdown in the engine of global growth, just as much of the world races to stem the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 with vaccinations. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.5 percent, nudging back toward the lows for the year touched last month. Chinese blue chips were hanging onto gains of 0.2 percent, perhaps in anticipation of a more aggressive policy easing from Beijing. Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.7 percent, though economic growth topped forecasts for the June quarter.

In Currency Markets the dollar held near a one-week low versus major peers on Monday, after falling the most in almost seven weeks on Friday as diving U.S. consumer confidence hurt bets for an early tightening of Federal Reserve policy. The dollar index was little changed at 92.528, maintaining a 0.50 percent decline from the end of last week. It fell as far as 109.455 yen for the first time since Aug. 5 on Monday, before trading 0.13 percent weaker at 109.465. Against the euro, it was mostly flat at $1.17960, close to the one-week low of $1.18045 reached Friday.

In US Equity Markets the Dow and the S&P 500 inched higher to touch intraday records on Friday and were poised for a second straight week of gains, buoyed by gains in Walt Disney, although a drop in consumer sentiment kept gains in check. The Dow rose 0.02 percent, to 35,507.25, the S&P 500 gained 0.08 percent, to 4,464.59 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.01 percent, to 14,815.16. Walt Disney climbed 1.43 percent after its profit topped market expectations as its streaming services added more customers than expected and pandemic-hit U.S. theme parks returned to profitability.

In Commodities Markets oil prices fell on Friday and ended the week little changed after weathering concerns from banks and the International Energy Agency that the spread of coronavirus variants is slowing oil demand. Global oil benchmark Brent crude settled down 1 percent, at $70.59 a barrel for the session. U.S. WTI crude settled down 65 cents at $68.44. Spot gold rose 1.4 percent to $1,776.21 per ounce. Elsewhere, silver rose 2.4 percent to $23.72 per ounce. Platinum rose 1 percent to $1,028.65 and palladium was up 1.2 percent at $2,654.76.

In European Equity Markets stocks rose on Friday and were on track for their fourth consecutive week of gains on optimism over a strong earnings season and steady recovery from the pandemic-led economic downturn. The pan-European STOXX 600 index inched up 0.2 percent to a record high of 476.16. Germany’s DAX index ticked above 16,000 points for the first time ever, while France’s CAC 40 index index touched its highest level in nearly 21 years. Adidas rose 2.3 percent after it said it was selling Reebok to Authentic Brands Group for up to 2.1 billion euros ($2.5 billion).

In Bond Markets sinking consumer sentiment accelerated a fall in U.S. Treasury yields on Friday amid low trading volume as the market looked to the Fed and upcoming data for signs that could push rates higher. The benchmark 10-year yield, which traded as low as 1.293 percent, was last down 6.7 basis points at 1.3001 percent. That was about 17 basis points above a six-month low of 1.127 percent reached on Aug. 4. Inflation expectations eased a little on Friday after the breakeven rate on five-year U.S. TIPS climbed as high as 2.616 percent on Thursday. It was last at 2.581 percent.