World stocks sink as global economy fears rise

World stocks mostly drifted lower Monday as investors' growing concerns about the shaky global economy overpowered any remaining optimism over central bank stimulus efforts. The dollar rose against the euro but fell against the Japanese yen, an AP report said. In early European trading, the FTSE 100 index of leading British companies fell 0.3 percent to 5,832.47 and France's CAC 40 dropped 0.7 percent to 3,506.36. Germany's DAX shed 0.3 percent to 7427.70. US stocks were poised to fall. Dow futures were down 0.1 percent to 13,482.00 while broader S&P 500 futures dipped 0.1 percent to 1,449.70. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.4 percent to close at 9,069.29 while Seoul's Kospi index was practically unchanged at 2,003.44. Benchmarks in Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand and India also fell. Strategists at Credit Agricole CIB wrote in a research note that the "euphoria emanating" from recent moves by the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan to stimulate growth is "fading quickly." "The reality of weak growth and underlying structural tensions is coming back to haunt markets." Asian markets were also reacting to some downbeat economic reports released over the weekend. The U.S. Labor Department said that the unemployment rate rose in more than half of states last month, the latest evidence that hiring remains tepid across the world's biggest economy. The World Trade Organization, meanwhile, cut estimates for global trade growth for this year and next. Both reports came out on Friday after Asian markets closed. In currencies, the euro weakened to $1.2910 from $1.2989 in late trading Friday while the dollar fell to 77.97 Japanese yen from 78.15 yen.