TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares declined Monday after the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated high interest rates will continue for some time to curb inflation.
The plunge in Asia paralleled the drop on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the week sinking more than 1,000 points. A slowdown in the U.S. is damaging to Asia’s export-reliant economies. Oil prices rose.
The message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in a speech Friday had been expected, though some had wished it was less emphatic.
“The market apparently was looking for something a little more neutral. After all the talk of a ‘pause’ and ‘pivot’, none of which ever made any sense with a Fed that has said several times it will keep hiking rates even if it means some economic pain, we are back to square one with a Fed outlook to keep tightening,” said Clifford Bennett, chief economist at ACY Securities.
“The Fed was always going…
