World Stock Markets Pressured by Specter Of Tighter Central Bank Monetary Policies

London (Sept 12)  World stock markets are lower to start the trading week Monday, following the sharp losses seen in the U.S. stock indexes last Friday. History shows the months of September and October can be turbulent for the stock markets, and indeed volatility as heated up the past few days.

Late last week a U.S. Federal Reserve official hinted that U.S. interest rates still could be raised this year despite recent weaker U.S. economic data. Last week the European Central Bank also failed to initiate new monetary policy stimulus for the Euro zone, which disappointed many European market watchers.

Asian shares showed sharp losses with the Hong Kong Hang Seng index down over 3% and Japan and Shanghai stock indexes both down around 2%. A People's Bank of China official on Monday sounded hawkish on monetary policy in his remarks in an interview. The European Stoxx index was also down about 2% Monday. U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward more losses when the U.S. day session begins.

World commodity markets are also seeing general selling pressure Monday, led by crude oil. Nymex crude oil futures prices are lower on ideas last week's big drawdown in U.S. stockpiles was a one-off affair that was caused by storms preventing the unloading of tankers at U.S. ports. The specter of tighter monetary policies from the world's major central banks are also a bearish element for the raw commodity sector.

There are speeches scheduled by two Fed officials on Monday, which will be closely monitored by traders and investors worldwide.

World markets are also watching the health of U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who has been diagnosed with pneumonia.

Source: KitcoNews