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Key events now Protests against the IMF and World Bank 11m ago Introduction: Chip stock sell-off deepens ahead of UK GDP report Protests against the IMF and World Bank Heather Stewart Protests at the IMF/World Bank annual meeting in Bangkok Photograph: Heather Stewart Heather Stewart is the Guardian’s economic editor, attending the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the Wold Bank in Thailand this week. Good morning from Bangkok, where the route from my hotel to the vast Queen Sikirit conference centre where the IMF/World Bank meetings are being held was blocked by this small but noisy protest by the People’s Network Against World Bank-IMF, with their friendly-looking World Bank pig. They’re apparently a coalition of environmental and civil society groups who oppose IMF/Bank-backed development projects as costly and opaque.
Local media have reported scuffles, but at the time I saw them, the numerous police lined up appeared bored, rather than tense. Protests at the IMF's annual meeting in Bangkok Photograph: Heather Stewart Introduction: Chip stock sell-off deepens ahead of UK GDP report Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. The sell-off in chip stocks is deepening today, worrying investors as market await the latest UK GDP report.
Signs of rising inflation in the US are driving concerns about the risk of interest rate hikes, and AI-linked stocks are bearing the brunt. In South Korea today, the KOSPI share index has plunged by over 8%, extending its recent losses. Chip giants Samsung Electronics (-9%) and SK Hynix (-10.5%) are leading the rout.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is sliding too – it’s down by 4.5% in late trading. This follows a drop on Wall Street on Wednesday, where the S&P 500 index fell by 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.9%. That includes an 11% plunge in Dell’s shares, which CNBC blames on mounting concerns that enterprise spending on artificial intelligence won’t justify the AI buildout.
The news yesterday that US inflation has jumped to 3.7% has alarmed traders, as it makes it more likely that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates soon – possibly even at the end of this month. Chris Weston , analyst at brokerage Pepperstone , says signs that US inflation pressures are spreading worries investors: double quotation mark Further evidence of right-tail inflation risk in the US has reinforced the higher-for-longer rates narrative, with sellers emerging across risk assets and interest rate-sensitive equities coming under renewed pressure. The breadth of price pressures across the CPI basket has been particularly concerning, challenging a market desperately in need of evidence of disinflation.
These inflation pressures will also worry policymakers at the IMF’s Annual Meeting in Bangkok, which continues today ( of which more shortly... ) We’ll soon learn how the UK economy performed in August, too. The latest GDP data, due at 7am, is expected to show a fall of 0.1% in the month, as growth fizzled out after a strong July . The agenda 7am BST: UK GDP report for August 10am BST: Eurozone industrial production report for August 1.30pm BST: US initial jobless claims data 1.30pm BST: US PPI index of producer price inflation in September
Source: The Guardian
