Bangkok, Feb. 14 (BNA): Shares in Asia fell on Friday after indices on Wall Street posted their biggest drop in four weeks as investors reported disappointment over a higher-than-expected inflation reading.
Oil prices and US futures also fell after the S&P 500 fell 1.4% on Thursday on news that inflation at the wholesale level slowed less than economists expected.
He echoed a report on consumer prices earlier this week that indicated inflation is not abating as quickly and smoothly as hoped, according to the Associated Press.
Stocks have been swinging lately on concerns that persistently high inflation will prompt the Federal Reserve to take more aggressive action on interest rates. Higher rates can lower inflation, but they also affect investment prices and increase the risk of a serious recession.
Those concerns were most evident in the bond market, where yields jumped this month as traders raised their expectations about how high interest rates the Federal Reserve would take.
Thursday’s inflation report showed prices at the wholesale level were 6% higher last month than a year earlier, slower than the December rate but worse than expected.
Perhaps more worrying was inflation accelerating in January on a month-on-month basis even after excluding food, energy and other classes.
The Wall Street inflation report spread along with a host of other data that paint a mixed picture of the economy.
In other trading on Friday, US benchmark crude oil lost 64 cents to $77.85 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the basis for international pricing, lost 68 cents to $84.46 a barrel.
The dollar rose to 134.67 yen from 133.99 yen. The euro fell to $1.0653 from $1.0673.
insignificant