[ad_1]
TOKYO (AP) — Asian stocks were mostly higher Wednesday, helped by a record rally on Wall Street led by technology companies.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.3% in morning trading to 38,926.05. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3% to 7,736.50. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.5% to 2,696.28.
“All eyes are on the upcoming spring wage negotiations, known as the “spring labor”, with the yen appreciating noticeably against the US dollar. ”, said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.
In currency trading, the dollar fell from 147.63 yen to 147.30 yen. The euro was at $1.0930, unchanged from Tuesday.
There is growing speculation that Japan’s central bank is preparing to end its ultra-easy monetary policy below zero and begin raising interest rates.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 1.1%, topping its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 235 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.5%.
Wall Street is looking for direction. Reported by Associated Press reporter Seth Stell.
All three indexes started the day lower after much anticipation. Report on inflation U.S. consumers said they paid slightly higher prices last month than economists expected. The door remained closed as worse-than-expected economic data raised hopes that the Federal Reserve would be able to deliver its long-awaited rate cut at next week’s meeting.
But inflation data remained close to expectations, and traders held out hope that a long-term downward trend would mean the Fed would begin its expected rate cuts in June. This allowed stock indexes to recover their losses as the day progressed.
Moreover, the actual rate of inflation may not be as high as the morning report suggested.
“January and February are notoriously volatile months for many economic indicators,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management, adding that longer-term trends will receive more attention.
The fear is that “sticky” inflation that won’t let up will force the Fed to keep interest rates high, weighing down the economy and investment prices. The Fed’s key interest rate is already at its highest level since 2001.
“Another better-than-expected CPI data may breathe new life into the story of persistent inflation, but will it actually delay a rate cut,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investments at Morgan Stanley E-Trade. Whether or not that’s the case is another matter.” .
Wall Street traders have spent the past few months trying to predict the timing of a rate cut ahead of the Federal Reserve. They are already pushing up stock prices and lowering bond yields in anticipation of that.
Through all of this, Larkin said, the Fed has “consistently continued to do what it said it would do.” “Until they say otherwise, their plan is to cut rates in the second half of this year.”
Nevertheless, the immediate reaction across financial markets to inflation statistics was halted and uncertain.
In the bond market, U.S. Treasury yields initially fell, but then rose. The 10-year Treasury yield finally rose to 4.15% from 4.10% late Monday.
The price of gold, which has soared to a record high due to expectations for future interest rate cuts, also fluctuated. One ounce for April delivery fell $22.50 to settle at $2,166.10.
On Wall Street, big tech stocks did the heavy lifting. Oracle rose 11.7% after reporting stronger quarterly profit than analysts expected. Nvidia also rose 7.2% after two days of unusual weakness. This was the single strongest force pushing the S&P 500 up on Tuesday.
Overall, the S&P rose 57.33 points to 5,175.27. The Dow rose $235.83 to $39,005.49, and the Nasdaq rose $246.36 to $16,256.64.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 38 cents to $77.94 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard crude, rose 37 cents to $82.29 a barrel.
[ad_2]
Source link
