Asian Stocks Down, Despite A Jump in U.S. Equities By

© Reuters

By Zhang Mengying

– Asia Pacific stocks were down on Wednesday morning as warnings about an economic downturn were getting louder despite a jump in U.S. equities.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 inched up 0.01% by 10:30 PM ET (2:30 AM GMT). The yen hovered near a 24-year low against the dollar as the Band of Japan kept its monetary policy ultra-loose while major global peers take a hawkish stance while Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Tuesday he was concerned about the recent sharp yen weakening and would appropriately respond to exchange market moves if necessary.

South Korea’s KOSPI fell 1.74%

In Australia, the ASX 200 inched down 0.06%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.55%

China’s Shanghai Composite inched down 0.09% while the Shenzhen Component edged down 0.17%.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 jumped more than 2%.

U.S. 10-year Treasuries yield was little changed at 3.27%.

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s aggressive monetary tightening to cool inflation, and concerns of growing risks of a recession are weighing on the market.

Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk warned that the U.S. is heading toward a recession.

“The Fed has entered into a policy cocktail that we would describe as hammer time,” Columbia Threadneedle Investments global head of fixed income Gene Tannuzzo told Bloomberg.

“You have to be planning defensively at this point. There are a lot of questions on all risk assets.”

Fed Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin said the central bank should hike interest rates as fast as it can without causing undue harm to financial markets or the economy.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell will start a two-day testimony to Congress later in the day, with investors looking for more cues about the Fed’s interest rate hike path.

On the data front, U.S. initial jobless claims is due on Thursday while U.S. University of Michigan consumer sentiment will be released on Friday.

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