BEIJING—Global stock markets sank Thursday after the Federal Reserve delivered another big interest rate hike to cool galloping inflation and raised its outlook for more increases.
London and Frankfurt declined after Switzerland’s central bank also raised its benchmark lending rate by its biggest margin to date.
Shanghai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong declined. The dollar rose to 146 yen—a 24-year low—after the Bank of Japan left its key lending rate unchanged, and then fell to about 142 yen after what a top finance official said was a rare intervention by the central bank.
Masato Kanda, the vice minister of finance for international affairs, confirmed the intervention. However, it was unclear exactly what form it took, and the BOJ does not usually announce such moves itself….