Global stock prices fell Wednesday as investors in Europe worried about a rocket explosion in Poland and US markets nervous about retailer Target’s warnings about a weak holiday shopping season.
The London Stock Exchange fell 0.3% on reports that annual UK inflation rose to 11.1% in October from 10.1% in September, the highest level recorded in October 1981.
The US dollar was up against the Japanese yen but fell against the euro and the British pound.
“The news of the rocket attacks in Poland on Tuesday naturally caused tremors in the markets,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at trading platform OANDA.
“It is unbearable to think about the prospect of a sudden and unexpected escalation of the war in Ukraine, especially involving a NATO country, but we were almost forced to do it,” Erlam added.
US retail trade turnover in October, compared to the previous month, increased by 1.3%, so it was recorded a faster than expected increase. Despite this, Target reported unexpectedly weak sales, warning of a weak holiday shopping season.
Target CEO Brian Cornell said “guest shopping behavior is increasingly impacted by inflation, rising interest rates and economic uncertainty.” The price of the “target” shares fell by 13.1%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 33,553.83 Wednesday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.8% to 3,958.79 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.5% to 11,183.66 points.
London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to 7,351.19 on Wednesday, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 fell 1.0% to 14,234.03 and Paris’ CAC 40 fell 0.5% to 6,607 ,22 points.
WTI crude oil fell 1.5% to $85.59 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday. The price of “Brent” crude oil on the London stock exchange decreased by 1.1% to 92.86 dollars a barrel.
The euro rose against the US dollar on Wednesday from $1.0354 to $1.0395 per euro, the British pound against the US dollar rose from $1.1871 to $1.1914 per pound and the US dollar against the Japanese yen rose from 139.16 to 139.54 yen per dollar. The euro rose against the British pound by 87.18 pence to 87.21 pence per euro.
