BEIJING—Major global stock markets were mostly lower Thursday amid worries about more U.S. interest rate hikes.
London, Shanghai, and Frankfurt declined. Tokyo advanced. Oil prices were lower.
Wall Street futures were lower following Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s warning that rate hikes might speed up because upward pressure on prices is stronger than expected.
Investors worry the Fed and other central banks look increasingly likely to tip the global economy into at least a brief recession to extinguish stubborn inflation. U.S. inflation edged up in January to 5.4 percent, well above the Fed’s target of 2 percent.
“The risks of a higher and faster hike trajectory have risen,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a report. He said the Fed might be motivated by “mounting criticism” that it has “fallen behind the inflation curve.”…