‍Fed members predict that high inflation will continue‍

Despite ongoing speculation that the Fed would stop raising interest rates, the majority of the members of the US central bank's committee predicted a continued risk of high inflation after the last interest rate meeting. This announcement caused the negative trend in the US stock market to continue and pushed stocks even further down. This could be observed, among other things, when the Stock Exchange closed on Wednesday. The S&P 500 closed with a fall of 0.8%, while the Nasdaq plunged by 1.2%.

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Asian stocks slide amid China’s economic downturn

China’s crumbling economy has had a domino effect on Asian shares, only to be compounded by the impact of the current outlook of the US economy. A mass selloff of investments across the region from international investors saw Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 drop by 1.1% in morning trading, whilst South Korea’s Kospi dipped 1.2%. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.2% and the Shanghai Composite lost 0.7%. This all comes after China’s recovery from Covid-19 lost steam, to the extent that it unexpectedly cut a key interest rate on Tuesday and skipped a report on how many of its younger workers are unemployed.

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Wilkinson’s on the brink of collapse

Britain’s biggest budget retailer, Wilkinson’s, had its 12,500 staff waiting in anticipation on Thursday who sought to hear whether a bidder had emerged. Administrators swarmed the business last week as it saw cash reserves plummet. Businesses interested in putting in bids to buy out parts of the company, had until Wednesday night to come with their best offers. However, It is expected potentially hundreds of Wilko stores will be forced to close as it’s expected that any bids will fail to cover all of the UK’s 400 stores. 

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Sources: Euroinvestor, AP News, Guardian