Fed meeting in focus after another week of market losses

Stocks around the world fell again last week as concerns persisted over the possibility of the Federal Reserve paring its bond purchases.

In the United States, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 1.0 percent last week. It fell in four of the five trading days, only rising ironically on the day when US retail sales reportedly rose 0.6 percent, which should have raised tapering expectations.

In Europe, the STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 1.5 percent last week. It was its fourth consecutive weekly decline, the longest streak of losses since April 2012.

In Asia, the MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index fell 1.3 percent last week. It was its fifth consecutive decline, the longest streak of losses in two years.

Leading the falls was, as usual, Japan. The Nikkei 225 fell another 1.5 percent last week. On Thursday, it plunged 6.4 percent to extend its loss from its 22 May high to 20.3 percent -- thus putting it in a bear market -- before rebounding slightly on Friday.

Investors' nervousness last week was not helped by the absence of additional monetary stimulus from the Bank of Japan following its monetary policy meeting on Tuesday.

This week, it is the turn of the Federal Reserve to conduct its monetary policy meeting. No substantive change to prevailing monetary policy is expected but the Fed is expected to provide some hints on the likelihood and imminence of a tapering in its rate of bond purchases.

US economic data last week had been mixed. Retail sales rose 0.6 percent in May, its biggest rise in three months, but the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment fell from 84.5, the highest reading since July 2007, in May to 82.7 in June. Industrial production in May was unchanged from the previous month.