BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed Thursday as U.S. stocks fell on worries that what appeared to be a blip in the fight to rein in inflation could become a troubling trend. .
Oil prices rose slightly, and US futures were flat.
Even after the ruling Conservative Party suffered a crushing defeat in the parliamentary election, South Korean stocks have remained largely unchanged. The Kospi rose less than 0.1% to 2,708.15.
The result was a major political blow to President Yoon Seok-yeol, with all of Yoon’s chief of staff, except Prime Minister Han Deok-soo and security officials, submitting their resignations on Thursday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.4% to $39,432.61, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng currency fell 0.6% to 17,037.80.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4% to 3,038.68, while the S&P/ASX200 Index fell 0.4% to 7,816.00.
Bangkok’s SET fell 0.5%, while Taiwan’s Tyex fell 0.3%.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.9% to 5,160.64. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1% to $38,461.51, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.8% to $16,170.36.
A report that inflation last month was higher than economists expected led to a jump in U.S. Treasury yields as bond prices fell, increasing pressure on the stock market. This is the third consecutive report to suggest that progress towards curbing high inflation may be stalling.
That’s a pain for shoppers, as in-store prices could be even higher. For Wall Street, there are growing concerns that the Federal Reserve will hold off on delivering the interest rate cuts that traders are desperately hoping and betting on.
The Fed is waiting for further evidence that inflation is falling sustainably toward its 2% goal. Last year saw an encouraging cooling, but now there are concerns that inflation could stagnate after higher-than-expected inflation reports and broader economic indicators in January, February and March. There is.
Immediately after the morning inflation numbers were released, prices for everything from bonds to gold fell.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury rose to 4.54% from 4.36% late Tuesday, back to November levels. The two-year bond yield, driven largely by expectations of Fed action, rose further, rising from 4.74% to 4.97%.
Traders have sharply reduced their expectations that the Fed could start cutting interest rates in June. At the beginning of the year, it was predicted that more than six locations would be cut by 2024.
High interest rates slow the economy and reduce inflation by lowering investment prices. The fear is that if interest rates remain too high for too long, they could trigger a recession.
Wall Street’s biggest losers on Wednesday included real estate investment trusts, utility companies and other stocks most vulnerable to high interest rates.
Real estate stocks in the S&P 500 index fell 4.1%, the biggest decline among the 11 sectors that make up the index. Among them, office owner Boston Properties fell 6.1% and Alexandria Real Estate Equities fell 5.3%.
Rising interest rates could push up mortgage prices and dampen the housing industry. Homebuilder DR Horton fell 6.4%, Lennar fell 5.8% and Pulte Group fell 5.2%.
While major U.S. companies are lining up to report their profits for the first three months of the year, Delta Air Lines helped kick off the reporting season by posting better-than-expected results.
The company said there is strong demand for air travel around the world and that it expects this strength to continue into the spring. However, the company refrained from raising its full-year profit forecast. The company’s stock rose as much as 4% in the morning, but then fell 2.3%.
In other trading early Thursday, benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 10 cents to $86.31 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, added 12 cents to $90.60 per barrel.
The dollar fell from 152.34 yen to 152.92 yen. On Wednesday, it hit a 34-year high of more than 153 yen. The yen depreciated because there was an expectation that the gap between Japan’s interest rates, which are close to zero, and the US interest rates would be large for the time being.
The euro rose to $1.0747 from $1.0746.
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AP Business Writer Stan Cho contributed.
Elaine Kurtenbach, Associated Press
