BEIJING (AP)-Asian stock markets were mixed on Friday as traders looked at data on U.S. labor costs that could influence the Federal Reserve’s decisions on planned interest rates.
Tokyo and Seoul advanced while Shanghai and Hong Kong declined.
Wall Street fell for a third day Thursday after the U.S. government reported the economy grew 5.7% last year, its strongest annual rate since 1984.
Investors are looking to U.S. data on labor costs for indications of when and how much the Fed may raise interest rates to cool surging inflation. Investors are expecting at least four rate increases this year after Fed officials said the stimulus boosting stock prices would subside sooner than previously planned.
The Employment Cost Index is expected to show a labor price increase of approximately 1.2% in the previous quarter in the last three months of 2021.
“Another strong wage gain could boost market expectations” of an unusually large rate increase of 0.5 percentage points in early March, Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a report.
The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.7% to 3,372.26 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong sank 1% to 23.564.09.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 2.1% to 26,720.06, recovering most of its losses from the previous day’s 2.5% slide.
Kospi in Seoul rose 1.4% to 2,650.11 while Sydney’s S & P-ASX 200 grew 2% to 6,977.20.
New Zealand fell 1% as Southeast Asian markets rose.
On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 index fell 0.5% to 4,326.51 after official data showed the U.S. economy grew 5.7% last year, its strongest rate since 1984 to jump 7.2%. .
The index is within 10 points of entering a correction, meaning a 10% drop from its January 3 high of all time.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped less than 0.1% to 34,160.78. The Nasdaq composite was down 1.4% to 13,352.78.
Stocks are on a roller coaster ride this week as investors try to figure out what the Fed will do after Powell said inflationary pressures have not eased.
“The Fed has erred in inflation and the scramble to deliver interest increases this year is sending out best-performing assets during the pandemic collapse,” Oanda’s Edward Moya said in a report.
Consumer spending -dependent companies and banks have sunk. Royal Caribbean fell 6.3% and JPMorgan Chase fell 1.8%.
Technology stocks are gone. Expensive tech companies and other growth stocks are less attractive when rates rise. Nvidia fell 3.6%.
In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude rose 61 cents to $ 87.22 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 74 cents on Thursday to $ 86.61. Brent crude, the price base for international oil, advanced 40 cents to $ 88.57 per barrel in London.
The dollar rose to 115.40 yen from 115.31 yen on Thursday. The euro advanced to $ 1.1158 from $ 1.1142.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed without permission.
.