European Stocks Slump; Fed Minutes Point to Early Rate Hikes By Investing.com – Investing.com

European Stocks Slump; Fed Minutes Point to Early Rate Hikes By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse 

Investing.com - European stock markets traded sharply lower Thursday, extending the global selloff after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December meeting pointed to early interest rate hikes amid inflation concerns. 

At 3:40 AM ET (0840 GMT), the in Germany traded 1.5% lower, the in France dropped 1.7% and the U.K.’s fell 1%. 

European indexes, like their Asian counterparts, took their lead from the sharp selloff on Wall Street late Wednesday, with the tech-heavy plunging more than 3% in its biggest one-day percentage drop since February. The broad-based also fell almost 2%, its biggest daily percentage decline since late November.

These losses followed the publication of from the latest Federal Reserve meeting, in which the policymakers said a "very tight" job market and elevated inflation might require the central bank to raise rates sooner than previously guided. Some policymakers also pressed for the Fed to start unwinding its massive bond purchases, something that would put further upward pressure on long-term interest rates.

Adding to Thursday’s woes, France reported a new record of Covid-19 cases, around a third of a million daily cases, while the likes of Portugal, Turkey, Italy