Global Stocks Mixed After Fed Officials Support Higher Rates

BEIJING—Global stock Markets The mood was mixed on Thursday following Federal Reserve meeting notes that indicated officials expected more U.S. rate hikes to combat stubborn inflation.

London, Shanghai and Hong Kong all declined. Frankfurt and Wall Street futures rose. Japanese markets were closed on holiday.

The Federal Reserve Board met for the last time and members took notes. “ongoing increases” Its key lending rate is to slow down the economy. These factors have dampened the hopes for any reductions as soon as this year.

“The need for ‘higher for longer’ rates was made plain,” Vishnu Varathan, Mizuho Bank, said this in a report.

The FTSE 100 in London fell 0.3 percent to 7,909.58 during early trading. Frankfurt’s DAX rose less than 0.1 percentage to 15,399.99, while the CAC40 in Paris fell 0.1 percent – 7,299.26.

Wall Street saw a 0.4 percent increase in the future of the benchmark S&P 500 index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a 0.3 percent increase.

The S&P 500 suffered a 0.2 percent decline on Wednesday. This year, its gain has been 2.9 percent, compared to 8.9 percent.

The Dow lost 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.1 percent.

Asia: The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.5 per cent to 3,276.19, while the Hang Seng fell 0.5percent to 20,323.24.

Seoul’s Kospi rose 1 percent to 2,442.26 following South Korea’s central banking leaving its key lending rate unchanged. S&P ASX 200 in Sydney lost 0.4 percent to 7,285.40

India’s Sensex gained less than 0.1 percentage to 59.801.66. New Zealand and Jakarta advanced, while Singapore and Bangkok fell.

On concerns that inflation may not be cooling as fast or smoothly as traders had hoped, global stock prices are falling.

Traders are concerned that the Fed and other central bank might try to force the world into recession in an effort to reduce price inflation.

Traders are placing bets on the Fed cutting rates late in the year. They anticipate at least two additional increases of 0.25 percent. Some people believe that the U.S. central banks might use unusually large margin increases of up to twice the amount it used last year.

The Fed’s key interest rate is 4.50 percent to 4.75%, which is an increase of close to zero from a year ago. It said that no cuts are expected this year.

The Fed minutes were shown “a few” Officials wanted to raise the benchmark interest rate by 0.5 percentage points at their last meeting. This is double the margin the bank had agreed on.

These were followed by resilient readings in retail sales, hiring, and inflation, which showed that economic activity was still strong.

CME Group estimates that traders have a 3 in 4 chance that the Fed will increase rates by 0.25 point at its March meeting. CME Group sees a 27 percent chance for a 0.50 point increase.

A month ago traders thought there was a one in five chance that the Fed wouldn’t raise rates in March.

The benchmark U.S. crude gained 20c to $74.15 per barrel in electronic trading on New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, the contract fell $2.41 to $73.95. Brent crude oil, which is the price basis for international oil trade, rose 19 cents to $80.64 per barrel in London. It dropped $2.45 to $80.60 from the previous session.

The dollar fell to 134.9 yen from Wednesday’s 139.99 yen. From $1.0650, the euro dropped to $1.0623.

By Joe Mcdonald

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