LONDON—European stock indexes fell on Friday and the U.S. 10-year yield held close to 2 percent after red-hot U.S. inflation data that prompted investors to expect tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve. U.S. consumer prices showed the biggest annual increase in 40 years, data released late on Thursday showed. The news fuelled speculation that the Fed will increase rates by 50 basis points in March, rather than 25. This hurt global stock markets as expectations of monetary policy tightening generally reduces investors’ appetite for risk-sensitive assets. Wall Street stocks fell after the data and the weakness continued through the Asian session. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 50 countries, was down 0.4 percent on the day at 0850 GMT. Europe’s STOXX 600 was down 1 percent, with tech stocks leading the sell-off. But it was still on track for its biggest weekly gain since late December. …