NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Global stocks finished mixed yesterday following a meandering session amid lingering worries over higher interest rates as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global growth forecast.

Investors have been nervous since the yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds surged above 3.0 per cent. The advance followed a stream of strong US economic data that was seen as boosting the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will persist in raising interest rates.

Yields continued higher early Tuesday but reversed and ended down at 3.21 per cent.

Earlier, the Italian Government appeared to have some success in talking yields down, with Finance Minister Giovanni Tria saying that fears over his country’s financial health — and the consequent spike in borrowing costs for Rome — did not fairly reflect the situation in the Eurozone’s third-largest economy.

Italian bond yields also rose early in the session before pulling back.

Bourses in Paris, Frankfurt and Paris all edged higher.

US stocks were mixed, with the Nasdaq scraping a modest gain, while the Dow and S&P 500 dipped.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business-observer-daily-biz/global-stocks-mixed-as-markets-eye-us-interest-rates_146489