World shares, US futures sink on jitters over Fed moves

Global stock markets are falling sharply Monday, with the Hong Kong exchange having its biggest loss since July and some markets in Europe seeing their steepest declines in nearly a year. Futures for the S&P 500 were down 1.8%.

Investors are watching to see whether the Federal Reserve will take any action to address the impact of rising prices on businesses and consumers. Investors in Hong Kong were concerned by financial problems in the Chinese property market.

Many markets in Asia were closed for holidays and analysts said the thin trading accentuated volatility. Hong Kong’s benchmark sank 3.3%. Germany’s DAX dropped 2.9% to 15,038.17 and the CAC 40 in Paris shed 2.7% to 6,393.04. if both indexes close at those levels, it will mark their steepest declines since last October.

Worries are mounting, also, about the U.S. debt ceiling. House Democrats said Friday they planned to move this week to suspend the cap on the government’s borrowing authority, and the White House ratcheted up pressure on Republicans by warning state and local governments that severe cuts lie ahead if the measure fails in the Senate.

Futures for the Dow industrials gave up 2% and futures for the Russell 2000 index of small companies dropped 2.6%.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to 1.31% from 1.38% on Friday, another sign investors are turning to safer investments.

Heavyweight Hong Kong property companies and banks lost ground on persisting concerns over the potential for ripple effects from the financial troubles of Chinese developer Evergrande.

The company was expected to miss interest payments, as ratings companies forecast it may default on its debt. Its shares fell 10.6% on Monday.

Henderson Land Development dropped 13% and New World Development lost 12% amid reports that China would tighten oversight over the property sector in Hong Kong.

The Fed is due to deliver its latest economic and interest rate policy update on Wednesday. The central bank has said higher costs for raw materials and consumer goods are still likely to be temporary as the economy recovers, but analysts worry that higher prices could stick around and dent companies’ bottom lines while also crimping spending.

Wall Street ended last week on a feeble note, with the S&P 500 index losing 0.9% to 4,432.99, its second straight weekly loss.

In other trading on Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 2.6% to $69.97 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, the standard for international pricing, lost 2.3% to $73.66 per barrel.