PHILIPPINE SHARES dropped on Monday to track Wall Street’s decline after the US personal consumption expenditures price index rose in January, fanning bets of more rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve.
“The local bourse plummeted following the surprising acceleration in US core PCE inflation, which was reported last Friday and stirred up concerns regarding Fed rates,” AP Securities, Inc. Equity Research Analyst Carlos Angelo O. Temporal said in a Viber message. Wall Street’s main indexes posted their biggest weekly drop of 2023 after sharp losses on Friday, as investors braced for the possibility of more aggressive rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve as economic data pointed to resilient consumers, Reuters reported.
“At home, our BSP governor is still seeing another rate hike by at least 25 bps ,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Research Analyst Claire T. Alviar said in a Viber message.