BEIJING—Asian stock markets fell Wednesday after US inflation edged down less than expected, fueling concern the Federal Reserve might think more interest rate hikes are needed.Wall Street ended mixed Tuesday after inflation slowed to 6.4 percent in January from the previous month’s 6.5 percent. That was down from June’s three-decade high of 9.1 percent but hotter than the consensus expectation of 6.2 percent.
The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3 percent to 3,283.19 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gave up 0.4 percent to 27,491.51. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong tumbled 1.4 percent to 20,806.24. On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 index edged down less than 0.1 percent to 4,136.13. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5 percent to 34,089.27 while the Nasdaq gained 0.6 percent to 11,960.15.
The market’s expectations for the Fed have been driving yields higher in the bond market in particular. The two-year Treasury has shot to its highest level since November, egged on last week by a stronger-than-expected report on the US jobs market.
Malaysia Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: BusinessMirror - 🏆 19. / 59 Read more »