Asian markets are falling as Trump offers no new details on trade

Asian markets fell into early trade Wednesday after President Donald Trump did not provide new details on progress toward a US-China trade agreement.

In a speech in New York on Tuesday, Trump reiterated his claim that a deal "could happen soon," but left no details. Tariffs seem to be the most important point, and Trump threatened again that "if we don't make a deal, we're going to raise tariffs substantially." Trump also raged against the Fed for not cutting interest rates as fast as he wanted, spying economic data from the United States.

Japan's Nikkei

NIK, -0.91%

fell 0.8% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index

HSI, -1.91%

slipped 1.7%. Shanghai Composite

SHCOMP, -0.15%

reduced 0.2% and Shenzhen composite with smaller lid

399106, + 0.09%

up 0.1%. South Korea's Kospi

180721, -0.94%

dipped 0.9% while Taiwan's benchmark indices

Y9999, -0.36%

Singapore

STI, -0.60%

and Indonesia

JAKIDX, -0.33%

declined. Australia's S & P / ASX 200

XJO, -0.75%

fell 0.5%, and New Zealand's NZX-50

NZ50GR, -0.83%

fell slightly after the country's central bank unexpectedly kept its official cash rate unchanged.

Among individual stocks, Nissan

7201, -0.18%

fell to trading in Tokyo after reporting a 70% drop in operating revenue from the previous year, lowering revenue and profit prospects. Fast retail

9983, -80%

and Inpex

1605, -1.69%

also rejected. In Hong Kong, real estate stocks such as New World Development

17, -5.45%

Wharf Real Estate

1997, -4.33%

and Sino Land Co.

83, -4.06%

were hammered while violent protests continued. LG Electronics

066570, -1,01%

withdrew in South Korea, and Foxconn

2354, -1.05%

dipped in Taiwan. beach Energy

BPT, -5.10%

fell in Australia.

Trump's comments "served as a reminder of the challenge the two sides face," IG Jingyi Pan said in a report. However, she said, investors saw them as "positioning statements," reducing their impact.

The comments did little to offend Wall Street, which ended with modest gains.

Hong Kong shares have been dusted by an escalation of violence in five-month-old government protests. A protester was shot Monday and others blocked streets and commuter tracks and set gasoline bombs at the University of Hong Kong.

The protests began in June over a proposed extradition law and have grown to include demands for greater democracy and other grievances. Already under pressure from weak global demand and the US-China customs war, Hong Kong has fallen into its first recession in ten years.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 benchmark index

SPX, + 0.16%

rose past the 3,100 level for the first time, but the gains did not hold. The index fell 0.2% to 3,091.84. Dow Jones industrial average

DJIA, + 0.00%

closed unchanged at 27,691.49. Nasdaq

COMP, + 0.26%

reached 0.3% to record 8,486.09.

Market momentum has largely been rising for more than five weeks as concerns over the US-China trade war have eased, among other factors.

Shares in health care, technology and communications services led to gains Tuesday, offsetting losses in energy companies and elsewhere.

This week, the US Department of Labor will provide updates on consumer and wholesale inflation. Economists expect a government report to show retail sales that went back to growth in October.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will testify to Congress Wednesday about the US economy. Most investors expect the Fed to hold interest rates for now after cutting them three times since the summer.

Benchmark U.S.

CLZ19, -0.25%

lost 6 cents to $ 56.74 per barrel of e-commerce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 6 cents Tuesday to close at $ 56.80. Burnt crude oil

BRNF20, -0.34%

used to price international oils, throwing 10 cents to $ 61.96 a barrel in London. It pulled back 12 cents to $ 62.06 last session.

dollar

USDJPY, + 0.04%

reached 109.06 yen from Tuesday's 109.01 yen.