TOKYO — Asian shares fell broadly on Wednesday after a slide on Wall Street, ending an eight-day winning streak, the longest of the year.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.8% in morning trading to 37,741.53. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5% to 7,958.40. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.1% to 2,692.81. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9% to 17,348.77, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.3% to 2,858.98.
In Tokyo, Japan’s Finance Ministry reported a deficit of 621 billion yen ($4.3 billion) trade deficit in July, as rising global prices pushed up imports, which grew by almost 17% year-on-year. Robust imports underscored stronger consumer spending amid rising wages. Japan’s exports also grew, up 10%, to destinations including the US and China.
Market observers have their eyes on the Federal Reserve chairman Speech by Jerome Powell later this week at an economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Expectations are not high that he will announce anything dramatic now, given that almost everyone expects the Fed to cut rates next month. But markets are looking for signals of how big that cut might be.
“We can get an indication of how confident the Fed is that inflation is under control, and from that the markets can predict the size and scope of the rate cuts we can expect between now and the end of next year,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.
“It will also be interesting to see what the Fed chairman thinks about the health of the labor market.”
On Wall Street, the S&The S%P 500 fell 0.2% on Tuesday. The S%P 500 is still only 1.2% below its all-time high set last month. It has rebounded from an earlier decline, at one point nearly 10% below its record.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 61 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.3%.
Nvidia was the heaviest weight in the market after falling 2.1%. The chip company is one of the most influential stocks on Wall Street as a frenzy around artificial intelligence technology has made it one of the most valuable companies on the U.S. stock market, worth about $3 trillion.
Boeing also pushed the market after a 4.2% drop. Federal safety officials are requiring inspections of cockpit seats on Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Boeing has also halted test flights of a new version of its 777 jetliner after a damaged structural component was discovered. The new model has not yet been approved by regulators.
However, companies in the S&P 500 is on track to report its best EPS growth since late 2021, according to FactSet.
In the US, high interest rates have been weighing on the economy after the Federal Reserve raised them sharply to control inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.81% from 3.87% on Monday evening.
All in all, the S&The P 500 fell 11.13 points to 5,597.12. The Dow fell 61.56 points to 40,834.97 and the Nasdaq fell 59.83 points to 17,816.94.
In energy trading, U.S. benchmark crude fell 33 cents to $74.04 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 5 cents to $77.15 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar rose to 145.44 Japanese yen from 145.13 yen. The euro was worth $1.1122, down from $1.1132.
Interest rate hikes by Japanese central bank caused losses in markets around the world as hedge funds were forced to abandon a popular trade in which they borrowed cheap Japanese yen and invested it elsewhere.
That was also the worst day for the Japanese stock market since the Black Monday crash of 1987. The Bank of Japan has since calmed market jitters by saying that future moves will be gradual.
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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed. Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://x.com/yurikageyama