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.
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