Markets drop in Asia on rising China-US tensions over virus

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares skidded in Asia on Monday as investors eyed rising tensions between the Trump administration and China over the origins and handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Facing criticism over his handling of the crisis, President Donald Trump has tried to shift the blame to China. Beijing has repeatedly pushed back on U.S. accusations that the outbreak was China’s fault.

Markets in Hong Kong and India fell about 4% on Monday, and other regional markets also were lower. Trading was halted for holidays in mainland China, Japan and Thailand.

Stocks closed broadly lower on Wall Street on Friday after disappointing results from Amazon and other big companies drove home the damage to the economy from the pandemic.

Pressure has been building between Washington and Beijing over the pandemic for some time. Washington and Beijing had just managed to strike a truce in a trade war when the virus led to China shutting down much of its economy in late January.

“The renewed possibility of the return of the trade war that had plagued markets since at least 2017 once again weighed on sentiment," Jingyi Pan of IG said in a commentary.

Tensions over the pandemic and threats to hit back with trade sanctions have amped up risk, Mizuho Bank said in a report.

“Even as growth-stifling containment measures are set to be phased out in May, the global downturn looks to deepen in Q2," it said, adding that anti-China threats from Trump, on top of record job losses, may result in a continuation of the “Mayday” type of fear dynamics.

May Day itself brought a 2.8% drop in the S&P 500, to 2,830.71, a day after it closed out its best month since 1987, its second straight weekly loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.6% to 23,723.69, while the Nasdaq, which is...