TOKYO—Global shares were mostly higher on Wednesday, ahead of a closely watched speech by the Federal Reserve chief that may give clues about future interest rate hikes.
Investors were also eyeing developments in China, where protests have erupted over the “zero-COVID” strategy that has confined millions of people to their homes, sometimes for months.
France’s CAC 40 added 0.6 percent in early trading to 6,707.52, while Germany’s DAX gained 0.7 percent to 14,454.72. Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced nearly 0.4 percent at 7,536.51. The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.2 percent while that for the Dow industrials gained 0.1 percent.
China has eased some controls after demonstrations in at least eight mainland cities and Hong Kong. It’s unclear if protests will start up again after authorities detained an unknown number of people and stepped up surveillance….