Asian Shares are mixed in quiet trading as traders await cues from the Fed
BANGKOK: Shares were mixed in Asia on Tuesday after Wall Street held near its records, with traders awaiting fresh cues about interest rates from the US Federal Reserve.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 0.2% to 43579.50 as the market heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp. fell after it announced it was taking a $2 billion stake in US computer chip maker Intel.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng shed 0.2% to 25,125.17, while the Shanghai Composite index edged less than 0.1% higher, to 3,730.71.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.7% to 8,894.90. In Seoul, the Kospi gave up 1% to 3,145.82.
Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.5% and the Sensex in India was up 0.3%. In Bangkok, the SET also gained 0.3%.
This week will bring updates from the head of the Federal Reserve and from some of the biggest US retailers.
On Monday, indexes mostly fell in Europe in their first trading after Trump’s inconclusive summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday about the war in Ukraine. Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, but that meeting finished after US markets were closed.
The S&P 500 barely budged and fell by less than 0.1%, closing at 6,449.15. It was its first loss after it set an all-time high for three consecutive days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1% to 43,533.86, and the Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1% to 21,629.77.
Novo Nordisk’s stock that trades in the United States rose 3.7% after the Danish company said US regulators approved its Wegovy drug as part of a treatment for a liver disease found in many overweight and obese people.
Soho House, a membership club with locations around the world, jumped 14.9% after announcing a deal where an investor group led by hotel-operator MCR would pay $9 in cash for its shares.
Several of the country’s largest retailers, meanwhile, were mixed ahead of profit reports scheduled for later in the week. Home Depot, which will report on Tuesday, slipped 1.2%.
Target rose 1.9% ahead of its report on Wednesday, and Walmart added 0.7% before its report on Thursday.
They, along with companies like Estee Lauder and Ross Stores, could offer a look at how different types of US households are holding up when the job market seems to have relatively few firings but also fewer hirings.
On Friday, the focus will swing to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which has been the home in past years of many big policy announcements from the Fed. There, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will give a speech, and investors are hoping to hear how his mind has changed about interest rates since he said last month that he wanted to wait longer before cutting interest rates.
The Fed’s twin jobs are to keep the job market healthy while also maintaining a lid on inflation, and helping one can often hurt the other in the short term. Lower rates can boost the economy by making it cheaper for US households and businesses to borrow to buy houses, cars or equipment, for example, but they also risk worsening inflation.
Inflation updates have been mixed, but traders are expecting the Fed to cut its main interest rate for the first time this year at its next meeting in September. The hope is that Powell could give a nod to that.
Expectations for cuts to interest rates have pulled Treasury yields lower lately, and they largely remained there on Monday.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury held at 4.33%, where it was late Friday.
In other dealings early Tuesday, US benchmark crude oil lost 44 cents to $62.26 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 42 cents to $66.18 per barrel.
The US dollar fell to 147.61 Japanese yen from 147.88 yen. The euro was unchanged at $1.1663.
By RSS/AP
