Stocks, commodities pull back over China, Fed questions

Global equities edged lower on Thursday and commodities retreated from early gains as investors continued to question the depths of China's slowdown and the timing of an interest rate hike from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The Purchasing Managers' Index indicated China's manufacturing shrank again in September, suggesting the world's second-largest economy is still cooling more rapidly than expected a few months ago, but kept fears of a hard landing for the world's second-largest economy at bay. Ch