Stocks, bonds face pressure ahead of Powell speech: Markets wrap
Asian markets opened lower, as investors prepare for comments from Jerome Powell later Friday.
Equities in Australia and South Korea fell alongside Hong Kong share futures, echoing Thursday’s selloff in US stocks where both the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 indexes retreated.
The yen was stronger early Friday as Japanese inflation data exceeded forecasts. Consumer prices in July rose 2.8% from a year earlier, the same as the prior month and higher than the 2.7% expected by economists.
Investors are bracing for potential surprises as Governor Kazuo Ueda speaks to Japanese lawmakers on Friday after hawkish rhetoric helped trigger a massive selloff in global stock markets earlier this month.
The 10-year Treasury yield was steady in Asian trading after rising five basis points Thursday, when the policy-sensitive two-year yield climbed seven basis points, largely reversing the move from the prior session. An index of dollar strength was little changed after a Thursday advance. Australian and New Zealand bond yields climbed early Friday.
“We are now once again not debating if they will cut, but by how much they will cut and how many times they will cut before year end,” said Kenny Polcari at SlateStone Wealth. “The US economy is not circling the drain – so there is no need to suggest that it is.”
Investors waded through a raft of remarks from US policymakers, with Fed Bank of Kansas City President Jeffrey Schmid saying he wants to see more data before supporting cuts. His Boston counterpart Susan Collins said “a
