Economics

KEY POINTS

China reduced its stash of Treasury to $652.3 billion, the lowest level since September 2008.

Japan, the single largest foreign holder, shed approximately $47 billion to $1.191 trillion.

The U.S.-Iran conflict and a subsequent surge in crude oil prices sent currencies tumbling.

China has been gradually reducing its direct Treasury exposure since its peak in 2013, “shadow holding” in custodial countries.

World shares mostly retreated and oil prices jumped on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran that the “clock is ticking” as U.S.-Iran negotiations over a permanent end to the war stall.

U.S. futures fell and markets in Japan and South Korea pulled back from their records. In early European trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.1% to 10,205.31. France’s CAC 40 lost 0.9% to 7,883.42, and Germany’s DAX dropped 0.1% to 23,925.82.

Economists predict the Consumer Price Index will have risen to 3.8% in April, up another 0.6% from March.

The Consumer Price Index is widely expected to show inflation has risen to a nearly three-year high when April’s data is released Tuesday morning.

The Iran war’s wide-ranging economic fallout has caused prices to spike, and economists and analysts project that inflation will hit 3.8%, up 0.6% from March to April, according to a survey from Dow Jones.

April’s inflation reading follows an even sharper 0.9% jump from February to March. Last month’s increase was the largest month-to-month jump since 2022.

In a victory for importers and a setback for the Trump administration, the Court of International Trade struck down a second round of worldwide tariffs that the president ordered to replace import levies that were outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court's decision was limited to two importers who challenged the tariffs, along with the state of Washington. It was not immediately clear whether other importers would have to keep paying the levies.

"That's a very good question and one we've sort of been wrestling with," said Jeffrey Schwab, who represented the importers on behalf of the Liberty Justice Center. "It's not entirely clear and probably will depend on what happens now."

The U.S. stock market fell from its record heights Monday, while oil prices jumped following escalations in the Middle East that may undermine the ceasefire in the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 sank 0.4%, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 557 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2%.

The action was stronger in the oil market, where the price for a barrel of Brent crude leaped 5.8% to settle at $114.44. It jolted higher after the United Arab Emirates, a U.S. ally, said it came under attack by Iran for the first time since the ceasefire took hold in early April. The attacks appeared to be in response to Donald Trump’s latest efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Spirit Airlines, an impish upstart that shook the industry with its irreverent ads and deep discount fares, announced Saturday that it has gone out of business after 34 years.

The ultralow cost airline that once operated hundreds of daily flights on its bright yellow planes and employed about 17,000 people said it had “started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately.”

The airline said on its website that all flights have been canceled and customer service is no longer available. Some passengers arrived Saturday for flights and were stunned to find them canceled, while workers learned overnight they were out of a job.