Global Stocks

European stocks finished lower Wednesday, stepping away from their best level in 11 months, as investors prepared for a likely interest-rate increase by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

U.S. stocks ended a volatile session lower on Wednesday, as investors grappled with the prospect of a faster pace of rate increases in 2017 than had been previously forecast. The Federal Reserve raised its key short-term rate on Wednesday, as had been universally expected, but it also forecast three rate increases in 2017, compared with the two that had been anticipated at its previous meeting in September. While the revised outlook could be taken as a positive sign-the Fed has said it would only raise rates when it deems the economy strong enough to withstand such a move-it added an element of uncertainty to the market.

Asian markets were down across the board Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve overnight indicated it would raise interest rates faster than expected in 2017. Overnight, the Federal Reserve raised the federal-funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point to between 0.50% and 0.75%, and said it expected to raise short-term rates next year by another 0.75 percentage points, spread over three rate increases.