Global stocks slip ahead of US Fed meet
World shares were mostly lower on Wednesday as investors waited for a decision by the Federal Reserve on interest rates.
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London: World shares were mostly lower on Wednesday as investors waited for a decision by the Federal Reserve on interest rates.
Central banks in many countries are raising rates as inflation squeezes businesses and consumers. To counter that, regulators are gradually increasing costs for borrowing that had dipped to record lows during the pandemic. Fed policymakers are expected to raise the US central bank's benchmark rate by twice the usual amount this week, ramping up their fight against inflation that is at a four-decade high.
The Fed already has raised its key overnight rate once, the first such increase since 2018, and Wall Street is expecting several big increases over the coming months. "All eyes are peering toward the FOMC meeting and a rate hike is an absolute given," Clifford Bennett, chief economist at ACY Securities, said in a commentary. Germany's DAX edged down 0.1 per cent to 14,028.26 while the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.2 per cent to 6,465.03. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.3 per cent to 7,536.42. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials both were 0.2 per cent higher.
World markets were in wait-and-watch mode ahead of the Fed's policy decision. Markets in Seoul and Hong Kong settled in the red, while Shanghai and Hong Kong were closed for holidays.
