Stocks in Asia were mixed overnight, with the Nikkei (^N225) rising 0.7% on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) fell 0.8% in Hong Kong.
The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 1.1% up by the end of the session and in South Korea, the Kospi (^KS11) added 0.3% on the day.
Across the pond on Wall Street, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.2%, closing at a new record high, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) also advanced 0.2%. The Dow Jones (^DJI) gained 0.3%.
It came amid ongoing concern about the Federal Reserve’s independence, with investors responding by pricing in faster rate cuts and higher inflation. The two-year inflation swap (+2.7bps) moved up to its highest level since late-2022, at 3.08%.
Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank said:
When it comes to the near-term path for policy, Fed speakers continued to keep open the prospect of a September rate cut. New York Fed President Williams said that “I definitely think that every meeting is, from my perspective, live”. He added that rates were still “modestly restrictive”.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Bessent said in a Fox Business interview that there were 11 candidates, of which three or four would be presented to Trump, and then the decision would “surely” be known in the fall.