- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
Stocks drop before expected Fed hike; oil soars on EU embargo
Global stock markets slid Wednesday in cautious deals before an expected half-point interest rate hike from the inflation-fighting US Federal Reserve.
Oil prices meanwhile rebounded sharply after EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would impose a gradual ban on Russian crude over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
European stocks fell after a broadly downbeat session in Asia, although key bourses including Shanghai and Tokyo remained shut.
The dollar drifted lower versus the euro and yen.
- Trading cautiously -
"Stocks across Europe are trading cautiously ahead of today's Fed announcement," City Index analyst Fiona Cincotta told AFP.
"Stock markets often fall in reaction to rising interest rates because the cost of borrowing becomes more expensive and earnings and growth slows."
The Fed is Wednesday forecast to unveil a half-percentage-point interest rate hike -- its biggest increase since 2000 -- as global central banks race to tame galloping inflation in the wake of the Ukraine war.
The announcement is due one day before the Bank of England is also predicted to deliver a hike.
India's central bank unexpectedly ramped up its key rate by 40 percentage points to 4.4 percent on Wednesday.
Policymakers are seeking to tackle runaway prices -- but risk damaging global economic recovery from the pandemic.
Investor sentiment also remains dogged by fallout from Russia's ongoing Ukraine invasion, which has fuelled bumper gains for many raw materials including crude.
That has in turn sent inflation accelerating to multi-decade highs in nations including Britain and the United States.
Oil jumped almost four percent Wednesday after the latest EU crackdown on Russia, which is a major producer of crude.
"We now propose a ban on Russian oil. This will be a complete import ban on all Russian oil, seaborne and pipeline, crude and refined," von der Leyen told the European Parliament.
But, she added, "we will make sure that we phase out Russian oil in an orderly fashion", with crude banned gradually over the next six months and refined fuels by the end of the year.
The EU executive also proposed sanctioning the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, and excluding Russian bank Sberbank from the SWIFT network.
- 'EU tightens screw' -
"As the EU tightens the sanctions screw on Russia by bringing in a phased ban on its crude oil, worries about global supply have reared up again," said Susannah Streeter, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
"The price of the benchmark Brent scurried up ... to above $108 a barrel after the toughened up stance emerged."
Oil traders were already on tenterhooks before Thursday's gathering of OPEC and other key producers including Russia, who will discuss whether or not to lift output more than expected.
The alliance known as OPEC+ had slashed output in 2020 when oil prices crashed due to the pandemic.
When demand picked up again last year as countries emerged from lockdowns, the coalition began to modestly increase production.
- Key figures at around 1030 GMT -
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.6 percent at 7,518.79 points
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.2 percent at 14,015.37
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.5 percent at 6,442.56
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.5 percent at 3,744.34
Brent North Sea crude: UP 3.7 percent at $108.87 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 3.7 percent at $106.26 per barrel
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.1 percent at 20,869.52 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: Closed for a holiday
Shanghai - Composite: Closed for a holiday
New York - Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 33,128.79 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0528 from $1.0521 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2514 from $1.2499
Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.12 pence from 84.18 pence
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 129.96 yen from 130.14 yen
A.S.Diogo--PC