World shares wobbly after Wall Street sinks into bear market

Global stocks drifted lower Tuesday in the wake of Wall Street’s tumble into a bear market, as investors anxiously contemplated a new and uncertain world of higher interest rates, international conflict and recession fears.

Shares traded down in Europe, erasing brief gains after the markets opened, while Asian shares fell but later recovered some gains.

The STOXX Europe 600 Index was off 0.5% after opening higher. France’s CAC 40 was off 1.33%, the DAX was down 0.55% and the FTSE fell 0.4%. In Asia, Shanghai advanced, while Hong Kong ended flat and Tokyo declined.

Tuesday’s market action follows downbeat headlines from Monday on Wall Street, where the benchmark S&P 500 lost 3.9%, taking it 21.8% below its peak. That meant a bear market, when an index has fallen 20% or more from a recent high for a sustained period of time.

At the center of the sell-off is the U.S. Federal Reserve’s effort to control inflation by raising interest rates. The Fed is scrambling to get prices under control and its main method is to raise rates, but that is a blunt tool that could slow the economy too much and cause a recession. The war in Ukraine is sending oil and food prices sharply higher, fueling inflation and sapping consumer spending, especially in Europe.