* S&P 500 down 1 pct in morning trading
* Weak China data weighs on markets
* Investors await ECB easing
(Updates with U.S. market openings, changes dateline, previous
LONDON)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, March 8 (Reuters) - World stock markets fell on
Tuesday after weak data from China reignited worries about a
global economic slowdown, while oil prices pulled back from
recent strong gains.
China's February trade performance was worse than economists
expected, with exports tumbling the most in over six years, days
after top leaders sought to reassure investors the outlook for
world's second-largest economy remains solid.
Weighing on oil, Kuwait saying it would agree to an output
freeze only if all major producers took part.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $40.00 a barrel, down 84
cents or 1.9 percent, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
futures CLc1 were down 81 cents, or 2.1 percent, at $37.09.
The declines in oil come a day after Brent and U.S. oil
settled at their highest levels since December.
As oil prices slipped, the dollar extended its decline
versus the safe-haven yen and Swiss franc.
In the stock market, the benchmark S&P 500 was down 1
percent in late morning trading, hit by declines in energy and
materials shares.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was down 119.95
points, or 0.7 percent, to 16,954, the S&P 500 .SPX had lost
18.79 points, or 0.94 percent, to 1,982.97 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC had dropped 42.85 points, or 0.91 percent, to
4,665.41.
MSCI's all-country world stock index .MIWD00000PUS was
down 0.9 percent, while in Europe, the pan-regional FTSEurofirst
300 index .FTEU3 dropped 1.3 percent.
U.S. Treasury yields fell in line with Japanese yields after
the weak Chinese data, which increased demand for safe-haven
U.S. government debt ahead of a 3-year note auction.
The benchmark 10-year note's yield US10YT=RR rose to 1.920
percent, its highest in just over a month. It was last down 6/32
in price to yield 1.902 percent, up from 1.883 percent late
Friday.
Investors also are awaiting Thursday's European Central Bank
announcement. The bank is expected to announce more monetary
stimulus measures on Thursday to boost ultra-low inflation and
sluggish growth in the euro zone.
A small 10-basis point cut to push its deposit rate deeper
into negative territory is a foregone conclusion, while some
type of adjustment of the bank's 1.5 trillion euro asset
purchase program is also near certain.