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August 15, 2025 – 03:08

(Bloomberg) — Bonds in Australia and New Zealand slipped after Treasuries fell following a higher US inflation print, which led traders to trim bets on a rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Asian stocks edged up.

The 10-year bond benchmarks in both countries retreated, sending yields in Australia to 4.24% and those in New Zealand higher by two basis points. Yields on short-term Treasuries, which tend to track expectations for monetary policy, were steady in Asian trading after rising sharply Thursday. The two-year note climbed six basis points to 3.73%.

MSCI’s gauge of Asian shares rose 0.2% and the Topix Index in Japan gained 0.8% as the country’s economy expanded faster than expected last quarter. A gauge of the dollar was little changed after advancing 0.4% in the prior session. Intel Corp. jumped in after-hours trading as the US was said to discuss taking a stake in the chipmaker. In late hours, Applied Materials Inc. gave a downbeat forecast. Contracts for the Nasdaq 100 index retreated 0.2%.

Risk sentiment had been buoyed in previous days by expectations of monetary easing in the US, with traders fully pricing in a quarter-point reduction. But with US wholesale inflation accelerating in July by the most in three years, traders trimmed the odds of a September rate cut to about 90% from near certainty.

“Markets shouldn’t take for granted that rates will be cut deeply because there is an inflation problem in the US,” said Kyle Rodda, a senior market analyst at Capital.com in Melbourne.

Traders in Asia will also focus on China’s monthly data, which will help gauge the health of the economy as it battles a US trade war and the longest deflation streak since at least the 1990s.

Worries of a deepening downturn are mounting, with expectations retail sales growth and industrial production slowed in July from the month prior, according to Bloomberg surveys.

“China’s July activity will probably show signs growth softened heading into the second half,” Chang Shu and David Qu, economists at Bloomberg Economics, wrote in a note. While weather was a drag, industrial output was likely “under pressure from the trade war and consumers pulling back further,” they wrote.

Elsewhere, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. – which assembles Nvidia Corp. servers and Apple Inc. gadgets – rose 3%. The company said it expects sales of servers to more than double this quarter while its consumer electronics business dwindles, underscoring how it’s relying on the AI boom to offset volatile iPhone sales.

In commodities, oil was steady for the day and the week, with investors focused on the meeting between the US and Russian presidents later on Friday. Gold held its losses.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 10:03 a.m. Tokyo time Japan’s Topix rose 0.9% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.4% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1653 The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 147.51 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1813 per dollar Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin rose 0.2% to $118,208.28 Ether rose 0.6% to $4,563.23 Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.28% Japan’s 10-year yield was unchanged at 1.555% Australia’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 4.24% Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.1% to $63.88 a barrel Spot gold was little changed This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Matthew Burgess.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.