AFP

US and European stock markets slid Wednesday as record-high inflation fanned fears that more interest rate hikes are on their way.

Wall Street’s main stock indices closed lower for a fourth day, a downward trend that follows Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell’s warning last week there will be no respite from increasing interest rates.

Frankfurt, London and Paris stocks all dropped as data showed eurozone inflation hit 9.1 percent in August on surging fuel prices, raising pressure on the European Central Bank to tighten its monetary policy.

And most Asian markets closed lower as well on concerns the US Fed’s rate-hiking policy could send the world’s biggest economy into recession.

Following Powell’s highly anticipated statement, the US “had a quiet start to the week in data,” said Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital. 

Traders are now awaiting the release of US job-creation figures on Friday for a better idea about the state of the economy.

“Starting tomorrow and Friday, I think we’ll have a lot more information to digest,” Ablin said.

– ‘One direction only’ –

Major central banks are rushing to contain surging consumer price inflation that has largely been prompted by fallout from key energy supplier Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The data from the EU has confirmed that inflation is moving in one direction only, and the ECB has a long way to go before it can put a leash on inflation,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst for Markets.com.

The ECB is set to lift borrowing costs next week, having increased them in July for the first time in a decade to help tackle rampant inflation.

Meanwhile, oil prices fell on demand jitters as China imposes further pandemic restrictions, and the possibility that a deal on Iran’s nuclear program could unlock crude exports.

State energy giant Gazprom suspended gas deliveries to Germany on a major pipeline on Wednesday.

It was the latest in a series of supply halts that have fueled Europe’s energy crisis and sent gas and electricity prices soaring before the peak-demand winter.

European gas prices, however, fell on Wednesday after flirting with a record high last week.

– Key figures at around 2030 GMT –

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.9 percent at 31,510.43 points (close)

New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,955.00 (close)

New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 0.6 percent at 11,816.20 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 1.3 percent at 3,517.25 (close)

London – FTSE 100: DOWN 1.1 percent at 7,284.15 (close)

Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.7 percent at 12,873.48 (close)

Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 1.4 percent at 6,125.10 (close)

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.4 percent at 28,091.53 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: FLAT at 19,954.39 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,202.14 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0054 from $1.0015 on Tuesday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.1619 from $1.1656

Euro/pound: UP at 86.50 pence from 85.92 pence

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 138.9780 yen from 139.00 yen

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.3 percent at $89.55 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 2.8 percent at $96.49 per barrel

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Former US president Donald Trump’s Truth Social app is unwelcome in Google’s app store until it abides by rules regarding content moderation including violent threats, the company said Wednesday.

The internet giant made the statement after the Trump camp argued that it didn’t know why its social network app had yet to be approved for the Google Play Store, which offers content for Android-powered smartphones.

A Google spokesperson said the company notified Truth Social on August 19 that its app violated Play policies and required “effective systems for moderating user-generated content” in order to be offered on the platform.

The app breaks rules barring content that incites physical threats and violence, according to the tech firm.

“Last week Truth Social wrote back acknowledging our feedback and saying that they are working on addressing these issues,” the Google spokesperson said.

Truth Social would still be able to make its app available on its website or other online venues that don’t involve Google’s online shop.

As of Wednesday a version of Truth Social was still available on Apple’s App Store, which is the lone gateway onto the company’s mobile devices.

Truth Social is Trump’s answer to platforms such as Twitter, from which he was ejected after a mob he egged on assaulted the US Capitol in January 2021.

Signs are growing meanwhile that Truth Social is in financial trouble.

Fox Business Network reported last week that the platform had halted payments to the company that hosts it, RightForge, and owes $1.6 million.

Trump Media and Technology Group said in a regulatory filing that it has raised some $15 million in additional funding that it believes will enable it to pay its bills until the end of April of next year.

Meanwhile, a merger between Trump Media and Technology with blank check company Digital World Acquisition Corp, which was formed specifically to carry out the merger, has yet to take place 10 months after the announcement that it would happen. This fusion is supposed to bring in fresh funding for the Trump platform.

Regulators are reported to be scrutinizing the merger to determine if anything was amiss.

US officials Wednesday authorized updated Covid-19 vaccinations by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech that specifically target the latest strains of the Omicron variant, hoping to contain a new wave of feared contagions this winter.

The two new booster shots are approved for people age 12 and above for the Pfizer shot and 18 and older for Moderna, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a statement.

This new generation of so-called “bivalent” vaccines protects against both the original strain of Covid and the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages — the subvariants of Omicron which account for about 90 percent of all new cases in the United States.

“Although the current Covid-19 surge is waning overall, it’s predicated that we’ll enter yet another surge as we spend more time indoors later this fall and winter,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf told reporters.

“These update boosters present us with an opportunity to get ahead” of the curve, he said.

While the intense focus on coronavirus has largely faded from daily life for Americans, the United States still records some 80,000 new cases — and 400 deaths — from Covid every day.

Earlier this summer the US health department announced it had purchased 105 million doses from Pfizer and 66 million from Moderna for use over the fall and winter.

The vaccines must still receive a recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nation’s health protection agency, before injections can begin.

An independent panel of experts is scheduled to be convened by the CDC on Thursday to discuss the updates. 

– Low booster uptake –

The two companies indicated their updated vaccines could be available for distribution in the United States as early as next week.

“Receiving a booster that specifically targets the Omicron BA.4/.5 variant… is an important public health measure that people can take to help protect themselves,” Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel said in a statement.

Many Americans will need convincing to take the new shots, as how only about half of those eligible have received a first booster dose.

The vaccines currently in circulation target the initial strain of the virus that first appeared in Wuhan, China. They have gradually proven to be less effective against the variants that have appeared over time, due to rapid evolution of the virus. 

The FDA still recommends people get the original vaccine in order to receive “a foundation of that basic immune response,” Califf said.

In contrast to the Alpha and Delta variants, which eventually waned, Omicron and its subvariants have come to dominate infections worldwide in 2022.

Pfizer and Moderna have also filed for approval of their updated vaccines with the European Medicines Agency.

Stanley Kubrick once famously said that J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy of novels was unfilmable.

It is hard to imagine what the great director would have made of Amazon’s $1 billion gamble on “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” a 50-hour television series based on the dry historical footnotes published at the end of book three.

The show, out Friday globally on Prime Video, aims to tap into the huge and enduring appeal of works still regularly voted the world’s best-loved novels of all time, as well as Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning film adaptations.

It is central to Amazon’s bid to stand out in the “streaming wars” with Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max — whose own “Game of Thrones” prequel just launched — and is bankrolled by multi-billionaire founder Jeff Bezos, a Tolkien mega-fan.

But populated by heroes and villains who are barely — if at all — referenced in Tolkien’s trilogy and its “Appendices” of fictional mythology, and featuring a largely unknown cast and creators, there is no doubting the scale of the gamble.

“It is quite nerve wracking — we’re building something from the ground up that’s never been seen before,” said Sophia Nomvete, who plays Princess Disa, the first female and first Black dwarf depicted on screen in Tolkien’s world.

“There’s definitely a few nerves. We want to get it right,” she told AFP at the Comic-Con fan event last month.

– ‘True colors’ –

“The Rings of Power” is set in Tolkien’s “Second Age” — a period of history in his fictional Middle Earth world thousands of years before the events of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

So while a handful of characters from Jackson’s films reappear in Amazon’s show — mostly younger versions of elves such as Galadriel and Elrond, who are of course immortal — there is no Frodo, Gollum or Aragorn in sight.

Most characters from Tolkien lore are appearing on screen for the first time, and some have even been created entirely from scratch for the show.

“Tolkien hasn’t really written much about who he is as a person,” said Maxim Baldry, whose character Isildur was briefly seen fighting the evil lord Sauron in a flashback at the start of Jackson’s trilogy.

Here, Baldry plays a younger version of the tragic hero, struggling with the death of his mother, overbearing pressure from his father, and a romantic yearning for adventure.

“What a gift, firstly, to explore someone’s beginnings, finding their true colors, understanding who they really are,” said Baldry.

He added: “Season one is purely about setting up characters and introducing new characters to the family… fleshing out a pretty skeletal world that Tolkien just created in the Second Age.”

– ‘Wonderfully crazy’ –

The fate of the series rests in the hands of creators — or “showrunners” — Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne, who pitched their concept to Amazon after it bought the rights in 2017, but had only a handful of previous projects credited on their CVs.

“We wanted to find a huge Tolkienian mega epic. And Amazon were wonderfully crazy enough to say ‘yes, let’s do that,” McKay said at Comic-Con.

At the London premiere Tuesday, Bezos admitted that “some people even questioned our choice” to bring in “this relatively unknown team.”

“But we saw something special,” he said, according to Variety.

Early reviews have been generally positive. Variety said the show slots “neatly into Peter Jackson’s preexisting cinematic universe.”

Critics universally praised its lavish costumes, backdrops, visual effects and set-pieces, as well as Morfydd Clark’s central performance as Galadriel.

However, Time said it was “filled with beautiful images and tired archetypes,” and the Times of London said it “has the vibe of terrified executives carrying an exceedingly expensive vase across a slippery floor.”

– $1 billion –

The show has been dubbed the most expensive ever for television.

Amazon splurged $250 million on the rights from Tolkien’s estate, and some $465 million on the first season alone. It has committed from the start to making five full seasons, meaning the final cost is expected to pass $1 billion.

With high stakes has come considerable secrecy — even its actors have not been told the fates of their characters.

“No idea! I don’t even know what’s happening next season,” said Megan Richards, who plays Poppy Proudfellow, a character whose Harfoot race are ancestors of the hobbits.

“There’s an arc that Tolkien has given us for the Second Age. So there are certain things we know,” Daniel Weyman, who plays a mysterious man billed simply as “The Stranger,” told AFP.

“The thing that I hold on to is that our showrunners, they definitely know their arc. They know their arc already.”