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New York - The biggest rout in Chinese shares in eight years stoked concerns on Monday over the worldwide impact of slowing growth in the world's No 2 economy, knocking down global equities and the prices of key commodities.
The dollar was weak ahead of the week's main set piece - Wednesday's Federal Reserve policy decision and statement - with a better-than-expected survey of German business sentiment prodding the euro above $1.11 for the first time in two weeks.
Wall Street opened lower on worries over China's slowing growth, crystallised by a stunning 8.5% fall in Shanghai that also rattled equity markets in Europe and Asia.
By mid-morning the Dow Jones industrial average was off 111.04 points, or 0.63%, to 17 457.49, the S&P 500 was down 8.94 points, or 0.43%, to 2 070.71, and the Nasdaq Composite had lost 31.43 points, or 0.62%, to 5 057.21.
Share indices in Frankfurt and Paris tumbled more than 2%, while London's FTSE 100 was off nearly 1%. Japan's Nikkei slipped nearly 1%, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.7%.
Traders and investors said the declines largely came on concerns over sluggish global economic growth triggered by the Chinese equity slump and weak recent data, which overshadowed some forecast-beating corporate results.
Both copper, for which Chinese demand is an important driver, and the broader Thomson Reuters CRB commodities index hit their lowest point in six years. Copper futures fell another 1% on Monday.
Oil was near four-month lows after the Chinese stock market crash fuelled worries over the economic health of the world's biggest energy consumer and as more evidence emerged of a global supply glut.
Brent crude fell $1.07 cents to $53.56 a barrel, touching its lowest in almost four months, adding to falls which are expected to put more downward pressure on global inflation.
"The drop in Chinese equities and the negative growth backdrop in China are clearly going to leave you very concerned about Chinese demand," said Nic Brown, head of commodities research at Natixis.
Despite the still patchy economic news, many analysts still expect US central bank policymakers meeting this week to raise interest rates in September. Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen drove the dollar higher earlier this month by saying a rate hike this year was on the cards, but she has gone no further than that.
Expectations of a hike have slowly pushed up US Treasury yields and widened the dollar's premium over the euro. But the euro has also tended to rise when investors get more concerned about global growth and rein in riskier bets, as they were doing on Monday.
The common currency gave back some of its early gains from a bullish Ifo survey of German business sentiment to stand up 1 percent on the day at $1.1094. A dollar index was down 0.80%.
US Treasury prices were up, getting a lift from international investors seeking shelter from tumbling stock prices. The bellwether 10-year note was last up 14/32 and yielding 2.2247%.
