Stocks Ease, Dollar Perks Up as Focus Returns to Fed and Inflation

A man holding an umbrella looks at an electronic stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, on April 7, 2015. Issei Kato/Reuters

LONDON/SINGAPORE—Global stocks eased on Wednesday, while the dollar pulled further above last week’s one-year lows, as investor focus honed in on what the Federal Reserve may have to do to tame inflation, rather than on the recent problems in the U.S. banking sector.

The MSCI All-World index fell 0.2 percent, thanks to a broad-based decline in equities around the world.