European, Asian markets sink with Fed to end asset purchases

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - European and Asian stocks plummeted Wednesday as the US Federal Reserve signaled it would begin to end its $120 billion monthly asset purchase program in 2021.

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, fell 7 points, or 1.51%, to 467.24.

London's FTSE 100 lost 110, or 1.54%, to 7,058, and Germany's DAX 30 shaved 200 points, or 1.25%, to 15,765.

The French CAC 40 lost the most among European indices, shedding 164, or 2.43%, to 6,605.

Italy's FTSE MIB was off 428 points, or 1.63%, to 25,928, while Spain's IBEX 35 lost 68 points, or 0.76%, to 8,902.

Asian stocks also had massive losses.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, lost 70 points, or 1.84%, to close at nearly 3,777 points.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange dived 304 points, or 1.1%, to 27,281.

China's Shanghai stock exchange was down 19 points, or 0.57%, to 3,465 points. India’s Sensex benchmark index was off 162, or 0.29%, to 55,629 points.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, posted the steepest decline among Asian indices, shedding a massive 550 points, or 2.13%, to 25,316.

And the Singapore index lost 44, or 1.42% to 3,086 points.

Despite a weak opening for the fourth straight day, major American stock exchanges were struggling to get into positive territory.

The Dow Jones was down 131 points, or 0.38%, at 34,827 at 2.26 p.m. EDT, while the S&P 500 lost 2 points, or 0.05%, to 4,4397.

The Nasdaq, however, gained 4, or 0.03%, to 14,530.

The VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, was up for a fourth consecutive day, adding 3.2% to 22.26. The dollar index climbed 0.46% to 93.56.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes, on the other hand, dived 2.7% to 1.238%.

Precious metals were in negative territory as gold fell 0.55% to $1,778 per ounce and silver lost 1.5% to $23.16.

Oil plummeted more than 2.6% with Brent crude sliding to $66.44 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate to $63.51.