Global stock markets ended the week on a sour note Friday as traders mulled Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments that the US central bank was not on a preset path to cut interest rates. After Powell indicated the Fed was in no hurry to cut rates as it monitors inflation's downward trajectory, Wall Street turned red, with all three major indices closing lower. "Certainly Powell's speech has triggered some skepticism about the path of rates, with potentially December being a skip instead of another cut," Edward Jones senior investment strategist Angelo Kourkafas told AFP.
"But we do have another inflation and jobs report before that, so there is still a good sense we might see another rate cut in December," he added. Leading the way down were a clutch of vaccine-makers' stocks after US President-elect Donald Trump indicated he would appoint vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
as his health secretary. Tokyo ended the day just in the green, with other major Asian markets stalling. In Europe, London was off just 0.
1 percent, digesting disappointing growth data. Frankfurt and Paris also ended in the red to round off a painful week fueled by worries over another disruptive China-US trade war under Trump. Disappointing US retail sales in October did not help overall sentiment as oil prices also drifted down.
In a speech Thursday, Powell said that "the economy is not sending any signals that we need to be in a hurry to lower rates." While the US central bank is expected to.
