BEIJING – Asian stocks followed Wall Street’s slump on Thursday after strong US jobs data fueled expectations of higher interest rates and a decline in Chinese manufacturing activity.
Nikkei 225 JP Index: NIK
In Tokyo it is down 0.4% and Hang Seng Hong Kong: HSI
In Hong Kong it fell 0.5%. Shanghai Composite Index CN: SHCOMP
It fell 1.2% after the monthly index of manufacturing showed activity contracted again in August.
Kospi KR: 180721
In South Korea it rose 0.4% while the S&P/ASX 200 AU:XJO rose in Sydney
Little changed. Standards in New Zealand NZ: NZ50GR
and Taiwan TW: Y9999
Advance while Singapore SG: STI
And Indonesia ID: JAKIDX
to reject.
US government data showing Tuesday that there were two jobs for every unemployed person in July appears to support arguments that the economy can withstand more interest rate increases to tame multi-decade inflation. Some investors were hoping the Fed would pull back due to signs of slowing economic activity.
Oanda’s Edward Moya said in a report that the jobs data “supported the Fed’s argument for maintaining an aggressive stance.”
Investors are concerned that raising the Federal Reserve and other central banks in Europe and Asia to stem rising inflation could derail global economic growth.
Chairman Jerome Powell indicated on Friday that the Fed will stick to its strategy of raising interest rates. The Fed has raised interest rates four times this year. Two of those were up 0.75 percentage points, three times the usual margin.
Traders seem to expect a rise of 0.75 percentage points in September, half a point in November and 0.25 points in December, according to Moya.
“If the labor market does not break out and the consumer remains resilient, Wall Street may start pricing rate hikes for February and March,” Moya wrote.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 benchmark SPX
It fell 1.1 percent to 3,986.16 points. This has brought it down over the past five days to 5.5%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA
It fell 1% to 31790.87. Nasdaq Composite
It lost 1.1% to 11,883.14.
The US government reported that there were 11.2 million vacancies on the last day of July. That was up from 11 million in June, and the June number was also revised higher.
In energy markets, US crude measured CLV22
It gained 89 cents to $92.53 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $5.37 to $91.64 on Tuesday. Brent crude BRNV22.5And the
Used to pricing international trade, it rose 93 cents to $98.77 a barrel in London.
USDJPY
It fell to 138.58 yen from 138.67 yen on Tuesday.