Lucy Harley-McKeown
Europe mixed and US stocks fall as rate cut hopes fade for 2024
The FTSE 100 and US stocks declined on Tuesday, falling as gloomy data was published by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) on how retail sales fared in February and US rate cut hopes took a knock.
The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was almost flat by the closing bell. Germany's DAX (^GDAXI) was 0.2% lower and the CAC in Paris (^FCHI) lost 0.4%. The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) ticked 0.3% lower.
US stocks were on the back foot heading into Tuesday, pulling back from recent all-time highs, with the S&P 500 (^GSPC), Dow (^DJI) and Nasdaq (^IXIC) 0.9%, 0.7% and 1.7% lower respectively.
Hopes for coming rate cuts by the Federal Reserve took a knock after comments by policymaker Raphael Bostic. The Atlanta Fed president said he sees just one rate cut this year, penciled in for the third quarter.
Investors are now even more focused on Fed chair Jerome Powell's testimony to Congress on Wednesday. His words will be closely watched for any change in the mantra that policymakers need to be convinced inflation is conquered before any move.
Earlier in the session, stocks across Europe fell amid mixed news for the UK high street. The BRC revealed retail sales fell short of expectations, with a flat 1% year-on-year increase, missing the 1.5% mark expected by the market.
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