Stocks Mixed As Traders Eye Data, China Regulation

Global stocks were mixed Thursday as traders digested economic data on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as China's plans to tighten regulation across more sectors.

Major US stock indices again closed at all-time records as investors shrugged off data showing a jump in wholesale prices.

Producer prices rose one percent in July from the prior month, double the increase expected by analysts, while the annual rate hit another record 6.1 percent.

The data added to expectations the Federal Reserve will shift course and pull back on its stimulus efforts, starting with a slowdown in the pace of bond buying.

The first signal of a move could come as soon as this month when Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell is due address the annual central banking conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

But the market has taken the expected shift in stride, viewing the inflation data as unsurprising. The producer price report comes on the heels of Wednesday's consumer price index that was seen by investors as more benign than expected.

"With these inflation numbers, expectations are of an announcement of tapering so the market is beginning to price that in," said Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities.

"We are in the middle of August, volume is light," he said. "Nobody is really interested in doing very much especially with the Jackson Hole meeting a couple of weeks away."

Elsewhere, the Paris and Frankfurt indices rose but London's FTSE 100 fell, even as official figures showed Britain's economy rebounded in the second quarter as it started to emerge from lockdown.

Asian equities closed mostly lower as China signaled additional anti-monopoly rules and penalties over the next five years.

Meanwhile oil prices dipped as the International Energy Agency said global crude demand was expected to grow more slowly than previously forecast this year with the spread of Covid's Delta variant prompting fresh lockdowns.

Stocks have had a largely positive week after a recent run of pressure caused by concerns about the fast-spreading Delta variant.

But Asian stocks took a slight hit Thursday after guidelines published by the Chinese Communist Party's top decision-making body called for "centralized special rectification" -- propaganda speak for further government intervention.

Sectors including finance, public health, education and food and drug manufacturing would be targeted, the guidelines said.

A Chinese regulatory crackdown on sectors ranging from tech to education had already roiled markets in recent months.

OANDA's Jeffrey Halley said the reason Asian stock market losses had not been so steep on Thursday might be because "investors are being more accepting of the 'new normal'".