U.S. stocks finished sharply lower on Wednesday, as all three major indexes fell over 0.9 percent. In world markets, European stocks closed mixed, as the FTSE 100 in Britain fell 0.7 percent and the CAC 40 in France rose 0.1 percent. Asian markets also ended mixed, with the Shanghai Composite falling 0.3 percent and Nikkei in Japan rising 0.5 percent. In Asian economic news, China's food price surge slowed, helping to ease overall inflation in April. China's consumer price index rose at an annual rate of 5.3 percent, down from a 5.4 percent growth in March. In U.S. economic news, the trade deficit widened to $48.2 billion in March, the Commerce Department said. Economists were expecting a $47.7 billion trade deficit. --More
