NEW YORK, April 15 ― Wall Street stocks finished lower while bond yields and the dollar rose yesterday as investors worried about the potential for aggressive US policy tightening as other central banks around the world moved to reduce support.
This was after the ECB said it plans to cut bond purchases ― known as quantitative easing ― this quarter, then end them at some point in the third quarter. “All systems are go for the Fed to move pretty aggressively,” said Mahajan. “Generally it's a global battle to fight inflationary pressures.” After the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.67 per cent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.71 per cent.
Meanwhile in forex, the euro plunged to a two-year low against the dollar as comments from ECB President Christine Lagarde were viewed as a sign that the bank was in no rush to raise interest rates. Read full storyThe Japanese yen weakened 0.21 per cent versus the greenback at 125.94 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at US$1.3076, down 0.30 per cent on the day.