* European shares fall, UBS results disappoint
* Wall Street lower after holiday weekend
* IMF downgrades world growth forecasts again (Updates with open of U.S. markets, changes byline, dateline; previous LONDON)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Jan 22 (Reuters) - A gauge of global stock markets fell on Tuesday, putting a four-session winning streak in jeopardy, as concerns over global growth spurred investors to look towards safe-haven assets such as the Japanese yen and government bonds.
Investors shunned risk assets like equities as the International Monetary Fund warned of a dimmer outlook on Monday, China confirmed its slowest growth rate in nearly 30 years, and as Brexit uncertainty continued to drag on sentiment. Wall Street, each of the major S&P sectors was in the red, with defensives such as utilities index .SPLRCU and real estate .SPLRCR outperforming the broader market. Energy .SPNY was the worst performing sector as concerns over slowing growth and demand pushed oil prices lower.
"The larger concern is slowing global economic growth," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York.
"The S&P 500 has more than half of its companies with businesses overseas, so an outlook like this is also going to impact the earnings of 2019 as well."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 182.91 points, or 0.74 percent, to 24,523.44, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 26.5 points, or 0.99 percent, to 2,644.21 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 81.70 points, or 1.14 percent, to 7,075.53.
European shares followed Asia into the red as Swiss bank UBS UBSG.S fell more than 4 percent on disappointing earnings, spelling continued trouble for European banks .SX7E which lost nearly 30 percent last year. .EU
In its World Economic Outlook report, the IMF predicted the global economy would grow at 3.5 percent in 2019 and 3.6 percent in 2020, down 0.2 and 0.1 percentage point respectively from estimates in October. downgrade mainly reflected signs of weakness in Europe, with Germany hurt by new car emission rules, Italy under market pressure due to Rome's recent budget standoff with the European Union, and Britain's planned exit from the EU, or Brexit, hanging over the bloc as well.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX lost 0.47 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed 0.83 percent, after climbing 2.7 percent in the prior four sessions.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.22 percent versus the greenback to 109.44 per dollar JPY= . a risk-off kind of undertone to the market that is the main driving force here," said Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto.
The dollar index .DXY , which rose to its highest since Jan. 4 helped by safe-haven demand, erased gains after data showed U.S. home sales tumbled to their lowest level in three years in December and house price increases slowed sharply, suggesting a further loss of momentum in the housing market. dollar index .DXY , tracking it against six major currencies, fell 0.01 percent.
The slowdown concerns also pushed U.S. Treasury yields lower as investors shifted some cash back into the bond market. Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last rose 8/32 in price to yield 2.7535 percent, from 2.782 percent late on Friday. crude CLcv1 fell 3.52 percent to $52.14 per barrel and Brent LCOcv1 was last at $60.77, down 3.14 percent on the day. Global assets in 2018
http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl Global currencies vs. dollar
http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh Bouncebackability
https://tmsnrt.rs/2RYxKky
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