MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.1%, hovering just above the two-year low hit on Tuesday, while US Nasdaq futures shed 0.3%.
“The concerning aspect in the CPI numbers was the breadth of increases,” said Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP, who said nearly 90% of the US CPI components saw increases of more than 3%. “Only time will tell though, the Fed does have an unconditional commitment to get inflation back down.” “So far Bank of Korea and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand seem to be competing with each other to see who can be the most hawkish, but all the other central banks are lagging. We will see more rate hikes in Asia, which will lead to a deceleration in aggregate demand, credit growth, consumption and the like.”