Markets on tenterhooks after rate hike and with US inflation numbers looming

SINGAPORE - It would be an understatement to call the past week’s stock market performance volatile.

Although

the fourth consecutive 75 basis-point rate hike

by the United States Federal Reserve was widely expected, the mixed messaging from Fed chairman Jerome Powell at a press conference that followed saw markets whipsawing from positive territory in early Thursday trading to end the session deeply in the red.