Stocks open lower on Wall Street as traders worry about slowing global economic growth amid a global effort to fight inflation. The S&P 500 index was down 1.4% at the start, as was the Nasdaq composite. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell a little less. Treasury yields, which affect rates on mortgages and other types of loans, have held at multi-year highs. European markets also fell. Yields on UK government bonds rose after the new UK government announced a sweeping plan of tax cuts in an effort to shore up that country’s economy. Oil prices have fallen sharply.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s previous story follows below.
Wall Street headed for another day of losses early Friday after further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and other central banks raised fears of a possible global recession and sent oil prices to their lowest level since the first days of 2022.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 1.1% and S&P 500 futures fell 1.2%. Barring a wild swing, major US indices are poised to end the week with losses for the fourth time in five weeks.
Oil prices fell 3%, threatening to fall below $80 a barrel for the first time since early January.
Central banks in Britain, Switzerland, Turkey and the Philippines all hiked interest rates after the Fed raised its key rate on Wednesday for the fifth time this year and signaled further hikes were in store. Classes.
“Global equities are struggling as the world expects soaring rates to trigger a much earlier and possibly severe global recession,” Oanda’s Edward Moya said in a report.
Britain’s new government announced a sweeping plan of tax cuts on Friday which it said would be funded by borrowing and revenue generated from anticipated growth, sending the pound plummeting below $1.12 for the first time since 1985.
Economists have expressed concern that government policies will lead to a sharp increase in borrowing, undermining confidence in the UK economy.
Also on Friday, Vietnam’s central bank raised its policy rate by 1 percentage point, surprising forecasters. The State Bank of Vietnam appeared to be trying to curb inflation while discouraging capital outflows in search of higher interest rates abroad.
Investors worry that central banks are willing to tolerate a painful economic crisis to bring prices under control.
Some point to signs that the US economy is cooling as the Fed backs its plans for further rate hikes. But Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that rates would be kept high for an extended period if necessary to bring inflation back to its 2% target.
US consumer inflation fell to 8.3% in August from a peak of 9.1% the previous month. But core inflation, which excludes volatility in food and energy prices to give a clearer picture of the trend, rose to 0.6% from the previous month, from 0.3% in July. . This indicated that upward price pressure was still strong.
The Fed on Wednesday raised its benchmark rate, which affects many consumer and business loans, to a range of 3% to 3.25%. It released a forecast saying it expects the benchmark rate to be 4.4% by the end of the year, one point higher than expected in June.
At midday in Europe, the FTSE 100 in London slipped 2.1%, the DAX in Frankfurt lost 2.5% and the CAC 40 in Paris fell 2.2%.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.7% to 3,088.36 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.1% to 17,953.50. The Kospi in Seoul fell 1.8% to 2,290.00.
Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 fell 1.9% to 6,574.70 and India’s Sensex fell 1.5% to 58,231.49. Markets in New Zealand and Southeast Asia declined.
In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude fell $2.75 to $80.74 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 55 cents to $83.49 on Thursday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell $2.63 to $86.90 a barrel in London. It was up 63 cents the previous session at $90.46.
The dollar rose to 142.88 yen from 142.49 yen on Thursday. The euro fell from 98.31 cents to 97.60 cents.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 lost 0.8%, the Dow Jones fell 0.4% and the Nasdaq composite slipped 1.4%.
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McDonald’s reported from Beijing; Ott reported from Washington.