Stock market today: Global markets lower ahead of what traders hope will be a final Fed rate hike
Global stock markets are lower after Wall Street hit a 15-month high ahead of what traders hope will be the Federal Reserve’s final increase in this interest rate cycle
BEIJING — Global stock markets were lower Wednesday after Wall Street hit a 15-month high ahead of what traders hope will be the Federal Reserve's final increase in this interest rate cycle.
London and Paris opened lower. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Oil prices retreated.
Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.3% on Tuesday after companies reported bigger profits than expected.
On Wednesday, investors expect the Fed to raise its key lending rate by 0.25 percentage points to a 22-year high. They hope the U.S. central bank can manage a “soft landing,” extinguishing inflation while avoiding a recession.
“There remains a risk that (Fed chair) Jerome Powell could maintain a more hawkish slant than markets would like,” Tim Waterer of KCM Trade said in a report. “With the labor market remaining tight, the Fed chairman will likely want to keep all options open for further tightening.”
Meanwhile, traders waited to see how China's ruling Communist Party will carry out its promise to shore up sluggish economic growth. The ruling party has pledged to support entrepreneurs and the struggling real estate industry but has given no details.
That leaves “room for disappointment if the stimulus details were to lack conviction,” Yeap Jun Rong of IG said in a report.
In early trading, the FTSE in London was off 0.1% at 7,684.72. The CAC 40 in Paris gave up 0.9% to 7,351.28 and the DAX in Frankfurt retreated 0.2% to 16,183.28.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 future was up less than 0.1%. That for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off less than 0.1%.
On Tuesday, the
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