Yahoo Finance Asian Stocks Lower as Fed Officials Curb Rate Cut Bets
Investing.com - Asian stocks traded mostly lower on Wednesday in Asia after comments by U.S. Federal Reserve officials curbed expectations for aggressive rate cuts this year.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component both dropped 0.1% by 10:30 PM ET (02:30 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index inched up 0.2%.
Expectations for a half percentage point cut at the Fed’s July meeting receded after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said Tuesday that such a move "would be overdone".
Separately, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank is "insulated from short-term political pressures," pushing back against U.S. President Donald Trump's demands for a significant rate cut.
The comments tempered expectations for aggressive easing, but investors are still expecting at a quarter percentage point cut next month.
Japan’s Nikkei declined 0.3%. South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.1%, while down under, Australia’s ASX 200 fell 0.1%.
Traders continue to focus on developments on the Sino-U.S. trade front, ahead of the upcoming G-20 summit this weekend.
The U.S. is willing to delay the next round of tariffs on an additional $300 billion of Chinese goods, CNBC reported citing people familiar with the matter. The decision might be announced next week after the G-20 summit is concluded, the sources said, adding that no trade deal is expected when Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet at the summit in Japan.
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