NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global stock markets tumbled on Monday after Caterpillar and Nvidia Corp warned of weak Chinese demand while oil posted its biggest one-day drop in a month on expectations of growing U.S. crude supply.
Equities also were slammed by plunging shares of Brazilian miner Vale SA, which lost some $19.3 billion of its market value following the collapse of a tailing dam last week that killed at least 60 people.
Vale shares dropped 24.5 percent in Sao Paulo trade.
The dollar fell against a basket of currencies as traders awaited the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting ending Wednesday and the results of U.S.-China trade talks this week.
The euro reached a 10-day high against the dollar ahead of voting in Britain’s parliament on Tuesday that aims to break the Brexit deadlock.
Caterpillar, a bellwether for global industrials, fell 9.1 percent as its quarterly profit missed Wall Street estimates, hurt by softening Chinese demand, a strong dollar and higher manufacturing and freight costs.
It was Caterpillar’s worst single-day drop since August 2011.
Nvidia slid 13.8 percent after the chipmaker cut its fourth-quarter revenue estimate by half a billion dollars, hit by weak demand for its gaming chips in China and lower-than-expected data center sales.
Apple’s downward guidance two weeks ago, along with the announcements by Caterpillar and Nvidia, suggest the U.S.-China trade war will affect more companies, said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco.
“I view this as a cause for concern. It’s not a crisis, but it’s likely to be a few more canaries in the coal mine because there is going to be a significant cohort of stocks that are likely to be impacted by the U.S.-China trade war,” Hooper said.
Earnings at Chinese
