Asian stocks mixed despite Wall Street rally

Beijing – Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday as Wall Street rose on optimism over reports suggesting the US economy is doing better than feared.

The Australian benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.1% to 7,194.00 after the government announced that the consumer price index rose 5.6% in the 12 months to May. The biggest price increases were in housing and food. The Reserve Bank of Australia unexpectedly hiked interest rates earlier this month to counter persistent price pressures.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.5% in afternoon trading to 33,029.73. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.7% to 2562.72. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.3% to 19,083.80 and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.7% to 3,167.36.

Wall Street rallied and the S&P 500 index resumed its rally to a more than one-year high earlier this month. It rose 1.1% to 4378.41. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% to $33,926.74 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.6% to $13,555.67.

The airline took the lead after Delta Air Lines said it expects staying demand to continue as passengers make up for lost travel opportunities during the pandemic. We focused on high-income customers, who account for three-quarters of air travel spending, and who we believe are still in good financial standing despite high inflation.

Shares of Delta Air Lines rose 6.8%, while shares of American Airlines rose 5.5% and United Airlines 5.1%.

Big tech stocks have also performed well, fueled by excitement over artificial intelligence technology and continuing their big gains this year. His Nvidia, the center of the AI ​​frenzy, has risen 3.1% of his, with year-to-year profits hitting 186.5% of his.

But higher inflation is hitting other companies more directly. Walgreens Boots Alliance fell 9.3% after it said its latest quarter profit was lower than analysts had expected.

Tuesday’s report on the US economy was significantly better than expected.reading Consumer confidence soared Orders for long-lived industrial goods rose unexpectedly to their highest level since early 2022, beating economists’ expectations for a rebound.

New home sales in May also beat economists’ expectations, boosting stocks of homebuilders. Renner was up 4.1% and Toll Brothers was up 3.3%.

Such data will inform decisions by the Federal Reserve and other central banks on whether to continue raising interest rates. Higher interest rates can keep inflation in check, but they can also slow the overall economy and increase the risk of a recession.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned on Tuesday: Inflation is slowly declining And he promised to raise interest rates high enough to “break this fixation.” He again said the central bank was almost certain to raise rates again in July.

That’s also what the Federal Reserve expects. But Wall Street’s hope is that next month’s rate hike could be the last, even if the Fed recently hinted it could raise rates two more times this year.

In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 3.76% from 3.72% late Monday. Helps set interest rates for mortgages and other important loans.

Two-year Treasury yields, which were rocked by expectations for the Fed, climbed to 4.76% from 4.74%.

In energy trading, benchmark US crude added 21 cents to $67.91 a barrel on electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard crude, rose 27 cents to $72.53 a barrel.

In foreign exchange trading, the dollar fell slightly from 144.02 yen to 143.99 yen. But what impact might the recent appreciation of the dollar against the yen have on policy makers, and what is its impact on the economy now, with inflationary pressures mounting after years of deflation? has sparked speculation as to whether it might give The euro fell to $1.0949 from $1.0959.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama