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Stocks extend slide; dollar rides Treasury yields higher

Asian shares extended a. global selloff on Wednesday, while the dollar and Treasury. yields jumped as traders pared back expectations for the speed. and scale of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year.

The latest shift in rate expectations came after a benefit. surprise in U.S. inflation on Tuesday which showed the consumer. cost index (CPI) increasing 3.1% on an annual basis, above. projections for a 2.9% boost.

Futures now point to about 90 basis points of easing priced. in for the Fed this year, compared to 110 bps prior to the information. release and 160 bps at the end of in 2015.

That kept pressure on worldwide stocks, which had rallied. highly towards completion of in 2015 on aggressive bets for. rate cuts by major reserve banks worldwide in 2024.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan. fell 0.3% and was headed for a fifth straight. day of losses.

S&P 500 futures edged 0.06% higher, while Nasdaq. futures gained 0.11%. EUROSTOXX 50 futures lost. 0.23%.

The stronger data presses back on the hope of a rate cut. from the Federal Reserve any time soon, stated Daniela Hathorn,. senior market expert at Capital.com.

We'll likely need to await the second half of the year. for the Fed to begin cutting, however the problem isn't so much. whether the bank will cut rates this year, as that is a nearly. certainty at this moment, but the number of rate cuts there will be.

Even Japan's standout Nikkei was not spared from the. beating and fell 0.7%, after getting 2.9% in the previous. session and topping the 38,000 level.

The current relocation higher in the Nikkei was helped in part by a. sliding yen, which had actually compromised past the key 150 per. dollar level for the very first time this year on Tuesday.

The yen last stood at 150.53 per dollar.

If they do attempt intervention, I think it'll be near ... the. ( dollar/yen) high from October 2022 and the high we saw in. mid-November, stated Tony Sycamore, a market expert at IG,. referring to intervention efforts from Japanese authorities to. fortify the currency.

Japan's top currency authorities alerted on Wednesday against. what they referred to as rapid and speculative yen moves. overnight.

In other places, stocks in Hong Kong reversed early losses to. trade greater after returning from the Lunar New Year vacations. The Hang Seng Index increased 0.9%.

Mainland China's financial markets stay closed for the. week.

HIGHER FOR LONGER

The possibility that U.S. rates are likely to remain raised for. longer than at first expected pushed the benchmark 10-year. Treasury yield to an over two-month high of 4.3320%. on Wednesday.

The two-year Treasury yield, which typically. reflects near-term rates of interest expectations, last stood at. 4.6286%, having similarly scaled a two-month top of 4.6730% in. the previous session.

That's helped the greenback company near a three-month peak. against a basket of currencies at 104.76. The dollar. index hit its greatest level considering that November on Tuesday.

The attendant, broad-based U.S. dollar rise admittedly. reflects (the) corresponding rise in U.S. Treasury yields,. stated Vishnu Varathan, primary financial expert for Asia ex-Japan at. Mizuho Bank.

Sterling steadied at $1.26085, ahead of UK. inflation information due later Wednesday.

The pound surged briefly in the previous session on data. revealing British pay grew at the weakest pace in more than a year. at the end of 2023, however the downturn was probably not. substantial sufficient to spur the Bank of England into quicker. action towards cutting rates of interest.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin pulled back from the. $ 50,000 level and last purchased $49,600.

Oil rates meanwhile edged lower, reversing some of. Tuesday's gains as geopolitical tensions lingered in the Middle. East and eastern Europe.

U.S. crude edged partially lower to $77.86 a barrel. Brent futures eased eight cents to $82.69.

Gold was little bit altered at $1,991.89 an ounce.

(source: Reuters)