SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian stocks were subdued on Monday as investors fretted that political instability in the United States was leaving the country rudderless at a time when the global economy was showing signs of faltering.
Moves were limited by a holiday in Japan while many bourses are set to close early for Christmas. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS lost 0.5 percent to its lowest in seven weeks.
Yet Chinese blue chips .CSI300 managed to edge up 0.2 percent, while E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 ESc1 recouped early losses to rise 0.4 percent.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s budget director and chief of staff on Sunday said the partial U.S. government shutdown could continue into January, when the new Congress convenes and Democrats take over the House of Representatives.
Trump on Sunday said he was replacing Defense Secretary Jim Mattis two months early, a move officials said was driven by the president’s anger at Mattis’ resignation letter and its rebuke of his foreign policy.
Sources also told Reuters Trump has privately discussed the possibility of firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, a move that would likely roil financial markets.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin felt it necessary to personally call the heads of the six largest U.S. banks to calm nerves and made plans to convene a group of officials known as the “Plunge Protection Team.”
“It provides more than enough fodder for perceptions of chaos and instability in the White House,” said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at NAB.
“At the same time, the government shutdown offers
