BANGKOK (AP) – Stocks were mostly lower in Asia on Wednesday after Wall Street benchmarks fell after the S&P 500 rose to its highest level since spring last year.
US futures were little changed and oil prices rose.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.1% to 33,427.14, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.5% to 19,607.08. The Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.5% to 3,240.36 and Seoul’s Kospi slipped 0.4% to 2,594.19.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.2% to 7,345.30.
There are few potentially market-moving events this week.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is due to testify before Congress on Wednesday and Thursday. Last week, the Fed left interest rates unchanged and announced no hike for the first time in more than a year. But she also warned that interest rates could be raised twice more this year.
The Bank of England will meet on Thursday on interest rate policy. Central banks around the world are taking different directions in their fight against inflation amid concerns about a troubled global economy.
“Investors are becoming cautious ahead of another hefty dose of Fedspeak amid relatively lackluster data,” SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes said in a comment.
He added: “With central banks in the mood to dish out the pain of inflation these days, investors may need to see positive convergence in inflation data to narrow the wide gap between the Federal Reserve and the market’s future inflation expectations before they move in.” breaking new ground in the US.” Equities.”
On Tuesday, as US markets reopened from their June 19 holiday shutdown, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% to 4,388.71. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7% to 34,053.87 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.2% to 13,667.29.
The US stock market took a step back after making many strides on hopes the economy can avoid a recession and inflation eases enough for the Fed to halt raising interest rates soon. The artificial intelligence hype has also delivered huge gains to a select group of tech stocks.
Against these hopes are concerns that the Fed will keep interest rates high for longer, which could weaken the economy. Some of the simplest improvements in year-on-year inflation will soon be passed, bringing tougher times for both the economy and financial markets.
In the 1970s, inflation stayed high much longer than hoped, forcing the Fed to eventually push the economy into a painful recession.
In China, meanwhile, the world’s second-largest economy is faltering in its recovery following the easing of anti-COVID restrictions
Most of Wall Street fell, with four out of five stocks in the S&P 500 falling.
Worries about the global economy led to lower prices for crude oil and the stocks of companies that produce it. Energy stocks fell 2.3%, the biggest loss among the 11 sectors that make up the S&P 500. Exxon Mobil fell 2.3% and Chevron lost 2.3%.
Ball Corp., a maker of aluminum cans and other products, fell 4.2%. On Tuesday, it said it was considering options for its aerospace business, but there was “no certainty that a formal decision will be made.” Shares of the company were up 7.2% on Friday after it was announced the company was planning to sell the unit.
On the positive side was Dice Therapeutics, which rose 37.2% after Eli Lilly announced it would buy the biopharmaceutical company for $2.4 billion in cash. Lilly added 0.9%.
Homebuilders rose after a report showed US homebuilders broke ground in many more locations last month than economists had anticipated. The number of building permits, an indication of future activity, also rose faster than expected.
PulteGroup was up 1.9% and DR Horton was up 1.6%.
In other trading Wednesday, the US benchmark crude price rose 29 cents to $71.48 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, rose 18 cents to $75.17 a barrel.
The dollar rose to 141.70 Japanese yen from 141.34 yen. The euro slipped from $1.0922 to $1.0916.
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AP business journalist Stan Choe contributed.