Asian stocks fall ahead of US inflation
BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks followed Wall Street lower Wednesday ahead of U.S. inflation data that traders worry will show upward pressure on prices still is too strong for the Federal Reserve to ease off interest rate hikes.
Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul declined. Oil prices edged lower.
Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.4% on Tuesday for its fourth daily decline following disappointing earnings reports.
Data on Wednesday are expected to show headline U.S. inflation in July eased from the previous month's four-decade high of 9.1%. But a survey by FactSet found traders expect core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy, leaving rent and other costs, to edge higher. That is despite other data that show economic activity cooling.
Anything above 8% is “still too high" for the Fed, Tan Boon Heng of Mizuho Bank said in a report.
“The fight to tackle inflation is far from over," Tan said.
The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.6% to 3,227.98 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo sank 0.7% to 27,803.26. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong plunged 2.2% to 19,559.33.
The Kospi in Seoul fell 0.9% to 2,480.20 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 was 0.3% lower at 7,005.70.
India's Sensex opened down less than 0.1% at 58,827.86. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets retreated.
Investors worry efforts by the Fed and other central banks in Europe and Asia to cool inflation that is at multi-decade highs might derail global economic growth.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell to 4,122.47 while traders waited for more evidence of how aggressively the Fed might pursue more rate hikes.
The Fed has raised rates four times this year, including twice by 0.75 percentage points, triple its usual margin. Investors expect another hike of 0.75 percentage points in September after data...
