- 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
Global markets plunge on hawkish Fed
Global stock markets dropped sharply Friday after the Federal Reserve warned of an aggressive tightening of monetary policy to tame runaway inflation.
Frankfurt lost 2.5 percent at the close, Paris ended off 2 percent as investors shrugged off a survey showing the EU bloc's economic activity accelerated in April while London lost 1.4 percent on the session.
Wall Street followed the glum trend as the Dow was 1.6 percent in the red mid-session while the S&P index and the tech-rich Nasdaq both showed similar losses.
Helping to batter London was a sterling slump against the dollar to an 18-month low after data showed tumbling British retail sales amid a cost-of-living crisis. The euro also slid against the US currency.
Oil prices slumped on demand fears arising from rising interest rates in the United States and ongoing Covid restrictions in China.
"(Price) risks are certainly more tilted to the upside, given the war in Ukraine and a potential embargo on Russian exports, but lockdowns in China and the risk of a Fed-driven economic slowdown are also significant," observed Craig Erlam, Senior Market Analyst.
- 'Cat among pigeons' -
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who has signalled that the Fed will have to move more aggressively to counter decades-high US inflation, stated on Thursday that a half-point interest rate increase was "on the table" for next month's meeting, sending Wall Street tanking.
"Further hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve Chair put another cat among the pigeons in a day of violent swings," said Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor.
"Quite apart from the widely expected 0.5 percent rate hike in May, this could also imply similar rises in subsequent months."
That stoked worries the Fed could send the US economy's pandemic recovery back into reverse.
"While the news should not have come as too much of a surprise, investors rushed for the exit as concerns of over-tightening and recession came back into focus," said Hunter.
Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst with City Index and FOREX.com, said the Fed signalling had left sentiment downbeat and that "the damage has already been done."
Nonetheless, Thomas Mathews, markets economist with Capital Economics, forecast that "this hiking cycle looks increasingly likely to be a sharp but short one in most cases, potentially ending as soon as next year."
Sharp price rises are forcing major global central banks to hike interest rates, in turn curbing recovery from the pandemic.
Higher lending rates tend to weigh on companies' share prices as they increase interest repayments on loans, while also further reducing consumers' incomes.
In Asia earlier, Tokyo stocks slid more than 1.5 percent even as inflation data from Japan was in line with market expectations.
But Shanghai finished marginally higher as some Chinese Covid curbs were eased and the nation's securities regulator pushed banks and insurers to buy more stocks to lift ailing equities.
- Key figures at 1600 GMT -
New York - Dow: DOWN 1.6 percent at 34,217.17 points
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 1.4 percent at 7,521.68 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 2.0 percent at 6,581.42 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 2.5 percent at 14,142.09 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 2.4 percent at 3,840.01
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.6 percent at 27,105.26 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.2 percent at 20,638.52 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,086.92 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0788 from $1.0834 late on Thursday
Dollar/yen: UP at 128.77 yen from 128.38 yen
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2851 from $1.3030
Euro/pound: UP at 83.94 pence from 83.15 pence
Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 1.7 percent at $106.15 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.6 percent at $102.17 per barrel
burs-rfj/bcp/cdw/pvh
B.Godinho--PC