US stocks ended lower with declines picking up steam late in the day after a Federal Reserve official said the central bank could begin easing up on its monetary stimulus this summer. European shares, Japan’s Nikkei also down.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 42.47 points, or 0.28 percent, to end unofficially at 15,233.22. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 8.31 points, or 0.50 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,650.47. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 6.37 points, or 0.18 percent, to close unofficially at 3,465.24.
European shares ended a touch lower pegged back by downbeat earnings news and US data.
The FTSEurofirst 300 closed down 0.21 point at 1,245.45, with heavyweight Swiss insurer Zurich off 3.3 percent after a 7 percent drop in first-quarter net profit.
Concerns about the global economy were heightened by weak data on the US labour and housing markets. Even so, confidence remains high in central banks’ ability to keep pumping money to nurse their economies back to health.
That has helped the FTSEurofirst 300 to rise around 10 percent in 2013, taking it to levels last seen in June 2008.
The Euro STOXX 50, meanwhile, closed down 2.88 points, or 0.1 percent, at 2,806.70.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell reversing from a fresh 5-1/2-year high earlier in the session, after banks offered downbeat earnings guidance and investors took profits in the face of doubts prompted by the breakneck speed of recent rises.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald