Shares in Asia were poised for declines Thursday after Wall Street closed lower on hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes.
Equity futures for benchmarks in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong fell. The S&P 500 declined 0.2% Wednesday while the Nasdaq 100 fell less than 0.1%. US futures were little changed in early Asian trading as investors also looked ahead to American jobs data over the next two days that will further illuminate the path for interest rates.
Treasuries extended a decline. The 10-year yield jumped to 3.93% and the two-year rate inched up to 4.94% — putting each maturity around the highest level since March.
The action was driven by Fed minutes showing division among policymakers over the decision to pause in the central bank’s June meeting, and the voting members on track to take rates higher.
“This adds to the high probability the Fed hikes again on July 26,” Ian Lyngen, a strategist with BMO Capital Markets wrote. “The FOMC minutes deliberately left investors with the impression that June’s pause was a close call and that a July hike is the committee’s base case scenario.”
A series of US employment reports due Thursday and Friday will by pivotal. The so-called JOLTS report of job openings is expected to show a tapering of available positions and a separate measure of jobless claims is anticipated to tick higher, in a sign of cooling in the labor market.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen touches down in Beijing Thursday to attempt to further repair the relationship between the world’s two largest economies.
A news outlet backed by China’s central bank published commentary stating that the country has ample tools to stabilize the foreign exchange market even if the yuan suddenly weakens.
Separately, China’s largest banks reduced rates on the country’s $453 billion in corporate US dollar deposits. The cut was the second in a matter of weeks and signals a further attempt to shore up the struggling yuan.
Elsewhere in emerging markets, the central banks of Malaysia and Sri Lanka will hand down interest rate decisions Thursday.
Moves in currency markets were muted in early Asian trading.
Key Events This Week:
- US initial jobless claims, trade, ISM services, job openings, Thursday
- Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan speaks on a panel about the policy challenges for central banks at CEBRA meeting, Thursday
- US unemployment rate, nonfarm payrolls, Friday
- ECB’s Christine Lagarde addresses an event in France, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets today:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 7:21 a.m. Tokyo time. The S&P 500 fell 0.2%
- Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed. The Nasdaq 100 was little changed.
- Nikkei 225 futures fell 0.6%
- Hang Seng futures fell 0.3%
- S&P/ASX 200 futures fell 0.5%
Currencies
- The euro was little changed at $1.0857
- The Japanese yen was little changed at 144.54 per dollar
- The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.2624 per dollar
- The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.6654
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin was little changed at $30,500.13
- Ether rose 0.2% to $1,914.06
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced eight basis points to 3.93%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.1% to $71.88 a barrel
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
