Asian stocks were mostly lower Wednesday even as investors wagered that the Federal Reserve will come ahead with a cut to interest rates, while Australia’s benchmark hit a new record.
U.S. futures fell and oil prices advanced.
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In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index gave up early gains to shed 0.4% to 41,097.69. Reports said the Finance Ministry might have intervened in the currency market last week, buying nearly 6 trillion yen ($37 billion) to support the yen.
The U.S. dollar fell to 157.79 Japanese yen from 158.34 yen on Wednesday. The yen weakened to 161.85 to the dollar last Wednesday and picked up to 157.89 last Friday.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.7% to 8,057.90 after hitting an all-time high of 8,083.70 during morning trading. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.8% to 2,843.29.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.2% to 17,761.66, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.3% to 2,967.32.
Elsewhere, Taiwan’s Taiex declined 1%, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's stock falling 2.4%. The SET in Bangkok was up 0.2%.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to 5,667.20, setting an all-time high for the 38th time this year. Unlike other record-setting days, Tuesday’s came after a widespread rally where nearly nine out of every 10 stocks in the S&P 500 rose, instead of just the handful of influential Big Tech stocks that have been behind most of this year's returns.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped 1.9% to 40,954.48, and the Nasdaq composite lagged with a gain of 0.2% to 18,509.34, as the stars dimmed for some of the year's biggest winners.
Several big winners from the day before, which benefited from heightened expectations for former President Donald Trump to retake the White House, gave back some of their immediate jumps following Trump’s dodging of an assassination attempt over the weekend.
Trump Media & Technology Group fell 9.1%, a day after leaping 31.4%. Shares of the company behind Trump’s Truth Social platform regularly swing by big percentages each day, up or down.
In the bond market, some of the prior day’s moves also reversed themselves. Longer-term yields sank more than shorter-term yields after a report showed sales at U.S. retailers held firm last month despite economists’ expectations for a decline.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.16% from 4.23% late Monday. It’s fallen from 4.70% in April, which is a major move for the bond market and has given a solid boost to stock prices.
Yields have eased on rising expectations that inflation is slowing enough to convince the Federal Reserve to begin cutting interest rates soon. The Fed has been keeping its main interest rate at the highest level in more than two decades in hopes of slowing the economy just enough to get inflation fully under control.
Tuesday’s stronger-than-expected data on retail sales may give Fed officials some pause, because too-strong activity could keep upward pressure on inflation. But traders are still betting on a 100% probability that the Fed will cut its main interest rate in September, according to data from CME Group. A month ago, they saw a 70% chance.
Risks lie on both sides of the tightrope that the Federal Reserve is currently walking. The central bank hopes to ease the brakes that it’s applied to the economy through high interest rates at the precisely correct time. Easing too soon could allow inflation to reaccelerate, but easing too late could cause a recession. Tuesday’s data on retail sales points to an economy that is remaining resilient so far.
In other dealings, U.S. benchmark crude oil added 1 cent to $79.72 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 8 cents to $83.65 per barrel.
The euro rose to $1.0912 from $1.0898.
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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.