London — World stocks tumbled to one-week lows on Thursday after the US Fed confirmed it was on track to raise interest rates several times this year, sending bond yields to new multi-year highs. While US 10-year yields retreated after nearing the psychologically key 3% level, the minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s meeting at the end of January has at least temporarily taken the edge off investors’ appetite for equities and other assets perceived as risky, such as emerging markets and commodities. With Fed policy makers agreeing that "a gradual upward trajectory of the federal funds rate would be appropriate", the odds in the market of faster US interest rate increases have narrowed and a host of Fed fund futures have hit contract lows. The dollar too was trading just off 10-day highs against a basket of currencies and was set for its first week of gains this year. Three rate rises are now almost fully priced in for 2018, compared with two as recently as December, and some traders ...
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