BANGKOK — Asian shares skidded Thursday after a retreat on Wall Street as markets registered their dismay over the Federal Reserve’s warning that still higher interest rates are in store following its latest increase.Japan reported its trade deficit in November surged to over... BANGKOK — Asian shares skidded Thursday after a retreat on Wall Street as markets registered their dismay over the Federal Reserve’s warning that still higher interest rates are in store following its latest increase.
Recent signs that inflation has eased had stoked optimism that the Fed might signal the possibility of rate cuts in the second half of next year. But during a press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell emphasized that the full effects of the central bank’s efforts to slow the economy to bring down inflation have yet to be fully felt.
Roughly 70% of the stocks in the S&P 500 closed lower Wednesday, with technology companies, banks and retailers among the biggest weights on the benchmark index. Apple AAPL fell 1.6%, Goldman Sachs GS dropped 2.3% and Best Buy BBY slid 3.9%.The Fed’s latest hike is smaller than the four 0.75 percentage point increases that preceded it and comes a day after an encouraging report showed that inflation in the U.S. slowed in November for a fifth straight month, to 7.1%.
“I wouldn’t see the committee cutting rates until we’re confident that inflation is moving down in a sustained way,” Powell said. Consumer spending and employment remain strong. That has made it more difficult for the Fed to tame inflation while also helping to protect the slowing economy from a possible recession.
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