Global stocks fall after UK's Truss defends tax cuts

BEIJING, Sept 29 (AP): European stocks tumbled on Thursday and Asian markets were mixed after British Prime Minister Liz Truss defended a tax-cut plan that rattled investors.
London's market benchmark plunged 2.3 per cent and Frankfurt lost 1.9 per cent in early trading. Shanghai and Hong Kong also declined. Tokyo and Seoul advanced.
The future for Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index was down 1.3 per cent. Oil prices lost more than $1 per barrel after jumping more than $3 the previous day.
Stocks and the British pound fell Tuesday on fears Truss's tax cuts would push up already high inflation. Markets rebounded Wednesday after the Bank of England said it would buy government bonds to stop a price slide.
Markets fell back Thursday after Truss shrugged off criticism and a public appeal by the International Monetary Fund to scrap the tax cut plans. Truss said she is willing to make "difficult decisions" to get the economy growing.
"The U.K. government needs to offer a credible fiscal plan to complement the BoE's financial stabilization in a way that supports long-term growth without boosting inflation expectations," David Chao of Invesco said in a report.
In early trading, London's FTSE 100 fell to 6,846.34 and Frankfurt's DAX declined to 11,957.72. The CAC 40 in Paris sank 1.8 per cent to 5,660.81.
On Wall Street, the future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 1 per cent.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 surged 2 per cent and the Dow added 1.9 per cent. The Nasdaq composite climbed 2.1 per cent.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index closed down 0.1 per cent to 3,041.20 after spending most of the day in positive territory.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 1 per cent to 26,422.05 while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.5 per cent to 17,165.87.
The Kospi in Seoul added less than 0.1 per cent to 2,170.93 and Sydney's S&P ASX 200 was 1.4 per cent higher at 6,555.00.
India's Sensex shed 0.2 per cent to 56.488.34. New Zealand, Singapore and Bangkok gained while Jakarta declined.
The British pound was trading at about $1.08, up from Monday's record low of $1.0373. It has lost some 4 per cent of its value since Friday.
Despite Wednesday's gain, the S&P 500 is down more than 20 per cent from its Jan. 3 record, which puts it in what traders call a bear market.
Forecasters see more turbulence ahead due to worries about a possible recession, higher interest rates and even higher inflation.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury, or the difference between its market price and the payout if held to maturity, briefly exceeded 4 per cent on Wednesday, its highest level in a decade.
Investor increasingly worry aggressive interest rate hikes this year by the US Federal Reserve and central banks in Europe and Asia to cool inflation that is at multi-decade highs might tip the global economy into recession.
The investment giant Vanguard puts the chance of a US recession at 25 per cent this year and at 65 per cent next year if the Fed follows through on expectations it will raise rates again and keep them elevated through next year.