People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index and U.S. dollar/Japanese yen exchange rate at a securities firm Monday, Sept. 11, 2023, in Tokyo. Stock prices were mostly higher in Asia on Monday as investors awaited U.S. inflation figures and Chinas latest economic data.
“We expect inflation to rebound further over the coming months, as policy support drives a modest recovery in China’s economic momentum,” Zichun Huang of Capital Economics said in a commentary. On Friday, stocks edged higher on Wall Street, but markets still ended their first losing week in the last three.
Smith & Wesson Brands jumped 10.8% after the gun maker reported stronger results for the three months through July than analysts expected. The summer is usually a lean season, but its sales rose 35% from a year earlier. High interest rates are supposed to slow the economy and hurt the job market, which should ultimately help undercut inflation. But the highest rates in more than two decades have yet to do that with great effect. The threat is that could push the Fed to raise rates again and at the very least to keep them high for longer than investors expect.