Global Stocks Skid, Wall Street Futures Sputter

Global stocks and Wall Street futures fell Friday after higher-than-expected U.S. inflation dashed hopes the Federal Reserve might back off plans for more interest rate hikes, Joe McDonald reported for the Associated Press (AP) on Sept. 16, 2022.

Photo Insert: On Wall Street, the S&P 500 future was down 0.9%.

London and Frankfurt opened lower. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong retreated. Oil prices declined.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index lost 1.1% on Thursday, adding to declines after August inflation stayed near a four-decade high despite four interest rate hikes this year to slow the economy. The Dow fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq slid 1.4%.

In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London lost 0.3% to 7,262.67 and the DAX in Frankfurt shed 1.7% to 12,731.46. The CAC 40 in Paris sank 1.4% to 6,070.61.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 future was down 0.9%. That for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 0.8%. The S&P 500 sank Thursday after the Labor Department said applications for unemployment benefits last week fell to a four-month low.

The market benchmark is down 4.1% for the week following the biggest pullback in two years on Tuesday after the government reported U.S. consumer prices rose 8.3% from a year earlier and 0.1% compared with July.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite index lost 2.3% to 3,126.39 after data showed Chinese consumer and factory activity improved in August but were still weak. Housing sales fell 30% from a year earlier under pressure from a government crackdown on debt.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo sank 1.1% to 27,567.65 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong retreated 0.9% to 18,761.69.

The Kospi in Seoul shed 0.8% to 2,382.78 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 was 1.5% lower at 6,739.10. India’s Sensex retreated 1.7% to 58,897.88. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets declined.

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