Fed notes signal faster rate hike: Global stocks tumble

Bludgeoned The Markets

- US job market nearly healthy

- Govt thinks ultra-low rates are no longer needed

- S&P 500 slid 1.9% and the Dow sank 1.1%

- Nasdaq tumbled 3.3% in its biggest one-day decline in 11 months

- Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Sydney suffered losses

- US consumer inflation hit a 39-yr-high

- S&P-500 gained 26.9% in 2021

- Govt may wind up stimulus plans

Beijing: Global stocks and Wall Street futures tumbled Thursday after investors saw minutes from a Federal Reserve meeting as a sign the US central bank might hike interest rates faster to cool inflation.

Benchmarks in London and Frankfurt opened down more than one per cent, while Tokyo lost nearly three per cent. Notes from the Fed meeting last month showed policymakers believe the US job market is nearly healthy enough that ultra-low rates are no longer needed. Traders took that as a sign the Fed might be more aggressive about rolling back stimulus that is boosting stock prices. The report 'bludgeoned the markets' by upsetting expectations that earlier Fed plans were locked in, Vishnu Varathan of Mizuho Bank said in a report.

In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London lost 1.1% to 7,435.95. Frankfurt's DAX fell 1.4% to 16,046.83 and the CAC 40 in Paris sank 1.6% to 7,255.16.

On Wall Street, the future for the benchmark S&P 500 index was off 0.3% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2%.