Asian shares mixed after biggest Wall St retreat of the year

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were trading mixed Thursday, as investors grew cautious after Wall Street's biggest pullback of the year.

Japan reported its trade deficit more than doubled in December from a year earlier, to 1.4 trillion yen ($11.3 billion), while the total deficit for all of 2022 ballooned to nearly 20 trillion yen ($156 billion) as the yen weakened and soaring costs for oil and other imports far outpaced an 18% increase in exports.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 1.4% to 26,405.23. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.6% to 7,435.30. South Korea's Kospi added 0.5% to 2,380.34. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed nearly 0.2% to 21,642.46, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.5% to 3,240.28.

India's Sensex slipped 0.3%.

The S&P 500 fell 1.6% to 3,928.86 after having been up as much as 0.6% in the early going. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.8% to 33,296.96 and the Nasdaq composite slid 1.2%, ending a seven-day winning streak, to 10,957.86. The losses are reversal for the market, which kicked off the year with a two-week rally.

The Russell 2000 index fell 1.6% to 1,854.36.

The selling came as new economic data showed that as inflation cools, the economy is slowing, heightening worries about the possibility of a recession. Meanwhile, a key Federal Reserve policymaker said interest rates need to go higher than the central bank signaled earlier.

“On the macro front, there remains lingering uncertainties about the outlook for the global economy. A slew of disappointing U.S. data releases and hawkish Fed rhetoric are also adding to the risk-off mood across markets,” said Anderson Alves, trader at ActivTrades.

The government reported Americans cut back on their spending at retailers more than anticipated last month, the second straight decline. Separately,...