A man walks past an electronic board displaying the Nikkei average outside a brokerage in Tokyo. Japan's Nikkei 225 futures fell 1.2 per cent. — Reuters file pic
“The Fed is basically saying they're going to keep the system solvent and at the macro level there's no room for failures but at the micro level there'd be some businesses that won't survive,” said Jamie Cox, Managing Partner at Harris Financial Group. An S&P index of bank shares, which tend to benefit from rising rates, fell 5.8 per cent in its biggest daily percentage decline since April 15, and the S&P 500 financial index was the biggest drag on the benchmark index.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.04 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 0.53 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.67 per cent. The euro rose as high as US$1.1422 and sterling reached US$1.2812, with the dollar hitting a three-month low of 0.9425 franc versus the Swiss currency.