NEW YORK ( Associated Press) — Stocks are opening wide lower on Wall Street after another positive inflation reading, this time from wholesale prices, has investors bracing for another big interest rate hike from the US. from the Federal Reserve later this month. Banks were among the biggest losers in early trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase reported a 28% drop in profit for its latest quarter, below forecasts. Another drop in crude prices, a sign that investors expect slower economic growth, was weighing on energy companies. The S&P 500 fell 1.9%. The benchmark index is coming off four straight losses and is down 21.7% on the year.
THIS IS A LAST MINUTE UPDATE. The previous Associated Press story follows below.
BEIJING ( Associated Press) — Global stocks and Wall Street futures tumbled Thursday after higher U.S. inflation stoked expectations of more rate hikes that investors fear will sap economic growth.
London and Frankfurt opened lower. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul fell back, while Tokyo gained. Oil prices fell more than $1 to less than $100 a barrel.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index fell after data on Wednesday showed US consumer inflation accelerated to 9.1% in June more than a year before the 8.6% in May. That was despite three rate hikes this year by the Federal Reserve.
Investors fear aggressive action by the Fed and other central banks to cool inflation from four-decade highs could derail global growth.
“Growth fears are weighing on markets more than inflation concerns,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a report.
In early trading, London’s FTSE 100 lost 0.4% to 7,126.97 and Frankfurt’s DAX fell 0.2% to 12,737.64. The Paris CAC 40 fell 1.1% to 5,933.53.
On Wall Street, futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.7%.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 lost 0.4%. The Dow fell 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2%.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index fell less than 0.1% to 3,281.74 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.2% to 20,751.21.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.6% to 26,643.39. Panasonic Holdings rose 1.1% after the battery maker announced plans for a multimillion-dollar factory to supply Tesla and other automakers in Kansas.
Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 6,650.60 after official data showed employment rose more than expected in June. Seoul’s Kospi rose 0.3% to 2,322.32.
India’s Sensex gained 0.4% to 53,309.59. New Zealand and Jakarta advanced while Singapore and Bangkok declined.
The Federal Reserve and central banks in Britain, South Korea and some other countries have raised rates to cool rising prices. The European Central Bank have similar plans.
Traders expect another rate hike from the Fed this month, likely matching last month’s 0.75 percentage point hike, the largest in 28 years and three times the usual range.
Fed officials say a recession is possible but not certain. They point to a strong US labor market despite higher borrowing costs.
Traders await the latest quarterly results from large US companies in the coming weeks.
In energy markets, benchmark US crude lost $1.26 to $95.04 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 46 cents to $96.30 on Wednesday. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, fell $1.06 to $98.51 a barrel in London. It added 8 cents the previous session to $99.57 a barrel.
The dollar rose to 139.23 yen from 137.32 yen on Wednesday. The euro fell to $1.0024 from $1.0062.
