U.S. shares on edge ahead of China economic data

HONG KONG Reuters - U.S shares were on edge on Monday morning ahead of the release of Chinese economic data for the third quarter as investors fret about the health of the second largest economy even when Chinese companies report strong quarterly earnings

Oil prices hit fresh multi-year highs, continuing their recent surge amid a global energy shortage, with U.S. crude at a three-year high and Brent at a new level's international average?

Meanwhile, bitcoin was within sight of its all-time high, sitting at $62,500 and not far from April's record of $64,895, gained last week on hopes that U.S. regulators will allow a futures-based exchange traded fund ETF MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan, was little changed in early trading on Monday, off 0.07%, while Japan's Nikkei lost 0.12%. U.S. Stock Futures, the S&P 500 e-minis, were down 0.13%.

Stocks globally finished in a bullish mood last week, posting their best day in five months on Friday as strong U.S. corporate earnings reports fuelled optimism about the economy, although firm oil prices kept inflation risks alive and lifted government bond yields.

The Chinese data dump is likely to show that gross domestic product GDP grew 5.2% in July-September from a earlier - the weakest pace since the third quarter of 2020, according to the median forecasts of 56 economists polled by Reuters.

Analysts of Barclays indicated in a note that they expected GDP to slow in view of persistent weakness in consumption and services amid repeated COVID outbreaks and the fading of the lower year-earlier base. Investors also noted to power shortages, supply bottlenecks and rising jitters over the Property Sector, as the saga over the fate of beleaguered developer China Evergrande Group rumbles on.

Yi Gang, the governor of China's Central Bank said on Sunday that the economy was doing well but faced challenges such as default risks for certain firms due to mismanagement Elsewhere investors are continuing to position themselves for the U.S. Federal Reserve to start tapering its massive asset purchases this year.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes rose to 1.5904% on Monday, heading back towards the four-month high of 1.6310% in early Tuesday, before a wobble later in the week.

Analysts at CBA said they believe U.S. rates will increase as inflation pressure builds, helping the dollar which has further upside on our view The pound could gain on the dollar this week as UK economic and inflation dynamics support the upward shift to the UK interest rates while the Chinese yuan is traded off-shore can be hurt by Chinese GDP data, they added.

In early trading on Monday, most currencies were quiet. The greenback was little changed against a basket its peers' and ended at 99.992, off its one-year high of 94.563 hit last Monday while the yen hovered near its almost three-year low against the dollar.

Brent crude was last in the basket of $83.04 a barrel and added 0.92% on the bill, while U.S. crude was last at $85.35 per barrel.

Gold was after last up 0.14% at $1,769. 60 an ounce, after falling 1.5% on Friday on increased U.S. bond yields and a rise in retail sales.