Asian benchmarks trade mixed ahead of US Fed chair’s speech

TOKYO — Asian stock markets were mixed on Thursday despite some optimism after a rally on Wall Street on better-than-expected earnings reports from major companies.

Trading is likely to remain relatively quiet ahead of the annual central bankers’ conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will deliver a highly anticipated speechThe hope is that he will provide clues about how deeply and quickly the Fed will cut interest rates in September, after taking them to their highest level in two decades to beat inflation.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.6% to 38,190.85 in morning trading. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% to 8,029.40.

South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.1% to 2,697.43. The Bank of Korea holds its monetary policy meeting, where no rate action is expected, although opinions are divided over how the vote will proceed.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1% to 17,413.42, while the Shanghai Composite was almost unchanged at 2,855.16.

On Wall Street the S&P500 rose 0.4% a day after snapping an eight-day winning streak, the longest of the year. The index is back at 5,620.85 — within 0.8% of its all-time high in July.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to 40,890.49, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6% to 17,918.99. U.S. companies continued to post the best earnings growth for S.&P 500 companies since the end of 2021.

Concerns have grown about whether shoppers in the United States can keep up their spending and keep the slowing economy out of recession. Inflation is slowing, but prices are still much higher than before the pandemic.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note has fallen since April on such expectations, falling slightly further on Wednesday, from 3.81% Tuesday night to 3.79%.

A preliminary revision released by the US government suggested that the economy 818,000 fewer jobs created in the year through March than previously reported. That is a large number and adds to the evidence that the labor market is cooling.

In energy trading, U.S. benchmark crude fell 16 cents to $71.77 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 8 cents to $75.97 a barrel.

In currency trading, the US dollar rose to 145.36 Japanese yen from 145.14 yen. The euro was worth $1.1147, down from $1.1153.

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AP Business journalist Stan Choe contributed.

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Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://x.com/yurikageyama