- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- 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
European and US stock markets struggle to recover
European and US stock markets struggled to mount a rebound Wednesday as investors weighed the fallout from surging inflation, higher interest rates, China's economic slowdown and the Ukraine war.
The day before, global equities had retreated as volatility grips financial markets.
A series of weak indicators around the world and downbeat forecasts from big firms have chilled trading floors in recent weeks as the surge in prices begins to drag on consumer confidence, with warnings now swirling of a possible global recession.
The tech sector was again in the firing line after Snap, the parent of social media app Snapchat, provided a gloomy economic outlook, sending its shares diving more than 40 percent on Wall Street Tuesday.
Wall Street titans followed Snap down, with Facebook-parent Meta and Google-parent Alphabet tanking.
"The feel-good factor from earlier in the week has fizzed away, but there is still some element of relief washing through the financial markets that the crutch of cheap money isn't going to be withdrawn quite so quickly," said Susannah Streeter, investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
She said expectations that the Federal Reserve would avoid hiking US interest rates by as much as 0.75 percent in one go to bring down inflation "helped lift the Dow Jones (Tuesday)... and has steadied overall market sentiment".
Investors are awaiting the Fed's next move on interest rates, with expectations for more half-point hikes to come as officials struggle to bring inflation down from four-decade highs.
With minutes from the Fed's most recent policy meeting due out later Wednesday, Wall Street's main stock indices opened lower, with the Dow shedding 0.4 percent.
The broader S&P 500 as well as the tech-heavy Nasdaq were down by a similar amount.
With numerous Fed officials having spoken since the meeting, "the minutes released today may not move today's trading dial much, unless they convey some more aggressive-minded thinking on the pace of balance sheet reduction," said Patrick J. O'Hare at Briefing.com.
European stocks made modest gains in afternoon trading.
Traders are also closely watching China, which continues to struggle with the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant.
The world's second-biggest economy is sticking to its zero-Covid strategy despite the dire impact of lockdowns on growth.
And with no easing of that policy in sight, observers warned that a series of recent support measures would not be enough to lift optimism.
"Fiscal multipliers will be minimal in an economy where economic interaction and activity have slowed sharply," said Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.
"Moving beyond mobility restrictions in short order is a pre-condition, but not a guarantee, for an Asia-led economic recovery."
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has meanwhile put financial markets under renewed stress by driving up prices and impeding growth, the European Central Bank said in a report published Wednesday.
Inflation in the eurozone, as elsewhere, has accelerated as costs for energy, agricultural goods and raw materials have risen sharply.
- Key figures at around 1330 GMT -
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 7,517.96 points
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 13,947.77
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 6,271.73
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.4 percent at 3,598.53
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.4 percent at 31,797.63
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 26,677.80 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.3 percent at 20,171.27 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.2 percent at 3,107.46 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0666 from $1.0739 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2517 from $1.2535
Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.20 pence from 85.64 pence
Dollar/yen: UP at 127.11 yen from 126.86 yen
Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.8 percent at $111.55 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.9 percent at $110.72 per barrel
burs-rl/spm
H.Silva--PC