Stock market today: Asia shares mostly decline after Wall Street slide on bank worries

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly fell Wednesday after worries about the U.S. banking system set off a decline on Wall Street and amid concerns closer to home about Chinese economic growth.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.5% to 32,232.60 in afternoon trading. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.3% to 7,329.10. South Korea's Kospi added 1.3% to 2,606.84. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.3% to 19,134.00, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.4% to 3,247.91.

Clifford Bennett, chief economist at ACY Securities, called the export data out of China “rather alarming,” noting it was the sharpest decline in three years and reflected global economic challenges, not just in China.

“Global demand is falling precipitously,” he said.

“It is now very likely we will all be surprised by just how intense this global economic slowdown becomes. The three major economies of the world — U.S., China and the EU — are leading the downward charge.”

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 19.06, or 0.4%, to 4,499.38 and at one point was down nearly three times that. It was the fifth loss in the last six days for the index after it rocketed through the year's first seven months.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 158.64, or 0.4%, to 35,314.49 after paring an earlier loss of 465 points. The Nasdaq composite lost 110.07, or 0.8%, to 13,884.32.

In the U.S., bank stocks fell after Moody’s cut the credit ratings for 10 smaller and midsized ones. It cited a list of concerns about their financial strength, from the effects of higher interest rates to the work-from-home trend that's leaving office buildings vacant.

The Federal Reserve has hiked its main interest rate to the highest level in more than two decades in hopes of grinding down inflation. High rates work by slowing the entire economy...