Stocks in Asia were mixed overnight, with the Nikkei (^N225) rising 0.3% on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) fell 0.3% in Hong Kong.
The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was treading water by the end of the session and in South Korea, the Kospi (^KS11) was also flat on the day.
Across the pond on Wall Street, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) dipped 0.3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) was 0.3% lower, both falling for a second day running. The Dow Jones (^DJI) lost 0.4%.
It came as the US Department and Commerce published a document lowering the tariffs on auto imports from the EU to 15% retroactively as of August 1, as well as making effective exemptions on products such as aircraft and generic drugs. This cemented the terms of EU-US framework trade deal whose outline was agreed in late July.
Meanwhile, United States Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent called for faster rate cuts last night, stating in a Fox Business interview that rates “need to come down”. He said he was “a bit surprised that the chair hasn’t signalled that we have a destination before the end of the year of at least 100 to 150 basis points (lower).”
It is a big contrast with the median dot from last week’s dot plot, which only pencilled in another 50bps of cuts by year-end.
Bessent also offered a bit of commentary on the search for a new Fed Chair, saying that he was interviewing 11 candidates, and that there would be interviews happening next week.