Stock market today: Asia follows Wall Street lower after Fed's notes dent hopes of rate hikes ending
Asian stocks have followed Wall Street lower after notes from a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting dented hopes interest rate hikes are finished
BEIJING — Asian stocks followed Wall Street lower Thursday after notes from a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting dented hopes interest rate hikes are finished.
Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul declined. Shanghai was unchanged. Oil prices were lower.
Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 lost 0.8% on Wednesday after minutes from the Fed's latest meeting suggested board members are unsure what to do after raising their key lending rate to a two-decade high. Traders had hoped they would decide inflation was under control and last month's rate hike was the last.
Fed officials face a “tough balancing act” between “the risk of an inadvertent over-tightening of policy against the cost of an insufficient one,” said Tan Boon Heng of Mizuho Bank in a report.
The Shanghai Composite Index held steady at 3,150.29 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo retreated 0.4% to 31,652.76 after being down more than 1%. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was off 0.1% at 18,308.06, recovering from a loss of more than 2% in early trading.
The Kospi in Seoul shed 0.3% to 2,517.92 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 declined 0.5% to 7,161.70.
India's Sensex opened down 0.3% at 65,324.26. Bangkok gained while New Zealand and other Southeast Asian markets retreated.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell to 4,404.33, adding to the prior day's 1.2% tumble.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5%, to 34,765.74. The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.1% to 13,474.63.
The bond market is drawing money out of stocks as rising interest rates increased the yield, or the difference between the price and the payout at maturity.
Yields widened further following the release of Fed
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