US stock markets suffered heavy losses on Wednesday on the back of poorly received results from tech heavyweights and comments from the Federal Reserve which said that interest-rate cuts are not yet imminent.
London's financial markets finished with mixed performance on Wednesday, with investors closing their wallets ahead of rate announcements from both the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.
US stock markets performed strongly on Monday, kicking off a busy week on the front foot, with both the Dow and S&P 500 continuing to set fresh record highs and the Nasdaq Composite nearing its all-time peak.
The Dow and S&P 500 both hit new record highs on Thursday after an upside surprise in US economic growth lifted sentiment, with airline stocks and IBM among the most prominent risers of the day.
Stocks finished mixed on Wednesday with the Dow slipping into the red by the close, but the S&P 500 notching its fourth straight record close, helped by strong earnings from Netflix and Freeport-McMoRan, along with improving service-sector data.
Wall Street experienced a mixed performance on Tuesday, with its main market indices showing varied results following a record close in the previous session.
A strong start on Wall Street wasn’t enough to lift European stocks on Friday, which sank into the red in afternoon trade after a European Central Bank member said markets were getting ahead of themselves hoping for an imminent interest-rate cut.
US stocks fell on Wednesday as bond yields rose on the back of resilient economic data, with central bankers in both the States and Europe doing their best to temper expectations for imminent cuts to interest rates.
London's financial markets experienced a downturn on Wednesday, as a surprising increase in UK inflation and sluggish Chinese GDP growth impacted investor sentiment.