Global stocks and oil prices moved lower on Wednesday as investors fretted over weak Chinese growth data and an unexpected rise in UK inflation.
Markets also continued to be undermined by a realisation that interest rates won’t be coming down as fast as presumed during the rally late last year.
“A combination of disappointing economic numbers out of China and an uptick in UK inflation for December has seen European markets roll over sharply, as the prospect of early rate cuts continues to get pushed further into 2024,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
China’s economy, the world’s second biggest after the United States, grew last year at the slowest pace since 1990 save for the pandemic years.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics said that gross domestic product…
