By Georgi Kantchev

World stocks kicked off the week under pressure as trade tensions between Washington and Beijing continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1% in early morning trade, dragged down by the automotive and chemical sectors. Asian markets fell across the board, with Japan's Nikkei shedding 2.1%.

On Wall Street, futures pointed to an opening loss of 0.5% for the S&P 500, following U.S. stocks' worst opening four days to a December since 2008. Major indexes fell more than 4% last week.

Over the weekend, U.S. officials maintained a hard line in trade negotiations with China despite a truce struck between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Buenos Aires at the start of the month. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Sunday the U.S. would hold fast to its 90-day deadline for the conclusion of a lasting agreement, adding that Washington would impose punishing tariffs on Chinese imports if none is reached.

For its part, China on Sunday summoned the U.S. ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, to demand the U.S. retract its arrest warrant for a senior executive at Huawei Technologies Co. who was taken into custody in Canada.

Trade uncertainty, coupled with worries about slowing global growth and geopolitical tensions, have curbed risk appetite among investors in recent months.

"It's clear that there will be ongoing trade tensions, and that matters for investors," said Ann-Katrin Petersen, investment strategist at Allianz Global investors. "This is a superpower rivalry that will continue for longer."

World trade growth is already slowing and leading indicators are also trending downward, economists at Citigroup wrote in a report to clients Monday. Growth in global merchandise trade volumes in September was at its lowest level since early 2018, the bank said.

U.S. jobs data on Friday showed that nonfarm payrolls increased a seasonally adjusted 155,000 in November to cap the slowest three-month growth rate in a year, a sign the economy could be losing some momentum after a strong year.

"There's more downside for global growth. We expect a period of lower returns and higher volatility going forward," Ms. Petersen said.

The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of 16 currencies, was down 0.2%. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was broadly unchanged at 2.850%. Yields move inversely to prices.

In Europe, investors were bracing for a planned Tuesday vote on U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal. The U.K. Parliament is expected to reject Ms. May's deal, throwing plans for the U.K.'s departure from the European Union on March 29 into turmoil.

The European Court of Justice, the EU's highest court, ruled Monday that the U.K. government can unilaterally reverse its decision to leave the bloc without the approval of its EU counterparts. The ruling is a boost anti-Brexit campaigners but further complicates Ms. May's struggle to win parliamentary backing for her deal.

The British pound was volatile against the U.S. dollar, recently down 0.2%.

Later in the week, investors will be focusing on the meeting of the European Central Bank, which is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged and announce the end of its massive quantitative easing program.

Official Chinese data indicated a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy as its export growth slowed sharply in November. Total exports grew 5.4% from a year earlier, decelerating from a 15.6% increase in October, missing economist forecasts for 10% growth. Import growth also missed forecasts.

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 1.2% while South Korea's Kospi fell 1.1%.

In commodities, Brent crude, the global oil price benchmark, rose 0.4% while gold was up 0.1%.

Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 10, 2018 04:59 ET (09:59 GMT)

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