Iran-Israel tensions, China Q1 GDP

China’s industrial output for March grew 4.5% year-on-year, missing Reuters’ expectations of a 6% expansion.

China’s manufacturing industry grew 5.1% while its mining industry grew 0.2%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The country’s electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply industry climbed by 4.9%.

The country’s retail sales, a gauge for its consumption, grew 3.1% year-on-year, less than expectations for 4.6% growth. The reading also slowed from the prior month’s figure of a 5.5% growth.

—Lee Ying Shan

New home prices in China have fallen for a ninth straight month, slipping 2.2% year on year in March.

This was a faster decline than the 1.4% drop in February, and is the sharpest fall in home prices since August 2015, according to LSEG data.

On a month-on-month basis, prices of new housing in first-tier cities fell by 0.1% month-on-month, while sale prices of new homes in second and third-tier cities fell by 0.3% and 0.4% month-on-month, respectively.

First tier cities include the capital Beijing, as well as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

— Lim Hui Jie

The Japanese yen fell to its weakest level since June 1990, crossing the 154 mark against the U.S. dollar.

The yen has been firmly beyond the 150 mark since the Bank of Japan raised interest rates on March 19, with Japanese officials repeatedly saying that “all options are on the table” to counter excessive yen moves.

On April 4, former top currency diplomat Hiroshi Watanabe said that authorities will not intervene until the yen crosses 155 against the greenback, according to Reuters.

Crude oil prices have been volatile in April amid heightened geopolitical risks.

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— Ganesh Rao

Asian markets have had a mixed start to the year — with investors looking keenly at India, Japan and increasingly China.

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— Amala Balakrishner

The oil market on Monday shrugged off Iran’s weekend air assault against Israel with U.S. crude and the global benchmark both settling slightly lower.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for May lost 25 cents, or 0.29%, to settle at $85.41 a barrel. June Brent futures fell 35 cents, or 0.39%, to settle at $90.10 a barrel.

The market had already priced in the risk from an attack Iran had telegraphed for days beforehand, and traders breathed a sigh of relief after Israel and the U.S. intercepted nearly all the missiles fired.

What happens next depends on how Israel decides to respond.

“What is not priced into the current market, in our view, is a potential continuation of a direct conflict between Iran and Israel,” Maximilian Layton, head of commodities research at Citi, told clients in a note. Oil prices could spike above $100 a barrel depending on how Israel responds to the attack, the analyst wrote.

— Spencer Kimball

The major indexes resumed their sell-off on Monday, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped below its 50-day moving average as the index…