World shares mixed ahead of Fed policy statement

By ELAINE KURTENBACH
AP Business Writer

BANGKOK (AP) — World shares are mixed as traders await the outcome of the last Federal Reserve meeting of this year. Benchmarks rose in Paris, Tokyo and Frankfurt but fell in Hong Kong and Shanghai after the U.S. Labor Department reported wholesale prices jumped a record 9.6% in November from a year earlier. Fed policymakers end a two-day meeting Wednesday where they’re expected to speed up the withdrawal of economic stimulus measures to help tamp down inflation. China reported retail sales slowed in November as the country sought to extinguish coronavirus outbreaks. The virus remains a concern, with  European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying omicron will likely be the dominant coronavirus variant in the EU by mid-January.