Stock market today: Asia shares rise moderately ahead of closely watched Federal Reserve meeting

TOKYO — Asian stocks were broadly higher on Wednesday as markets focused on the outlook for the The US Federal Reserve’s first rate cut in more than four years.

The Bank of Japan and the Bank of England also hold monetary policy meetings later this week. But neither central bank is expected to make any adjustments to interest rates, although the language of what officials say could be an indicator of later moves and could still influence markets.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.8% in morning trading to 36,482.21. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was almost unchanged at 8,139.30. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.1% to 8,139.30. Trading in Hong Kong was closed for a national holiday. The Shanghai Composite index rose almost 0.2% to 2,709.06.

The Fed’s announcement is scheduled for Wednesday, with overwhelming expectations on Wall Street for a cut in the federal funds rate, which has hovered in a range of 5.25% to 5.50% for more than a year.

Lower interest rates would boost the slowing economy, as it has become increasingly expensive to borrow money for everything from homes to cars to corporate debt.

The Fed is keeping its key interest rate at its highest level in two decades, hoping to slow the economy enough to curb high inflation.

On Wall Streetthe S&P500 rose less than 0.1% to 5,634.58. It remains 0.6% below July’s all-time high and briefly rose above that mark in the morning.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell less than 0.1% to 41,606.18 from its previous day’s record, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 35.93, or 0.2%, to 17,628.06.

Intel helped boost the market with a gain of 2.7% after a series of announcements, including an expansion of its partnership with Amazon Web Services to produce custom chips. Intel also detailed plans to expand its foundry business.

But some reports released on the U.S. economy on Tuesday were better than expected, including one about US consumer spendingThat’s probably a sign that the US economy isn’t going into a nosedive. a recession.

A separate report showed that U.S. industrial production grew again in August, stronger than economists had expected.

On the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 3.64% from 3.62% Monday night. The 2-year yield, which is more in line with expectations for the Fed’s actions, rose to 3.59% from 3.56%.

In energy trading, U.S. benchmark crude fell 20 cents to $70.99 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 18 cents to $73.52 a barrel.

In currency trading, the US dollar fell to 141.73 Japanese yen from 142.34 yen. The euro was worth $1.1128, up from $1.1117.

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AP Business journalist Stan Choe contributed.