Thai shares fall amid US inflation worries

The Thai stock market dropped yesterday, following global indices, after higher than expected US inflation stoked concerns over early interest rate hikes.

On Thursday the US inflation rate was revealed for January, reaching its highest level in 40 years as consumer prices jumped 7.5% compared with the same period last year. This exceeded analysts’ forecast of 7.2% and put additional pressure on the Federal Reserve to move more aggressively with its monetary policies.

Analysts expect the Fed to raise the interest rate to 0.5% at its next meeting in March, and to 1% by July.

Bets on early interest rate hikes sent the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield above a key level.

On Thursday the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 2.1% to 14,185.64, while the S&P 500 shed 1.8% to 4,504.08.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 526.47 points, or 1.47%, to close at 35,241.59….