Perennial worries about inflation and the rise of interest rates contributes to the pressure of Asian stocks. Chinese markets are anxious about the global economic outlook as well as fresh selling in Asian technology stocks. After the U.S. negligible gains, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, said Reuters.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index crashed at 0.38%. This is a negative sign that gives market evidence. The mainland’s CSI300 Index also plunged at 0.37%. This was due to the decline of technology firms by as much as 1.5%. Meanwhile, Australian shares got 0.42% while Japan’s Nikkei stock index was 0.8% higher. On Friday last week, the yield on 10-year Treasury benchmark notes increased to 2.7883% close to its 2.787.
The two-year yield rising traders’ expectations of higher Fed fund rates got 2.5869% higher from 2.583%. Market uncertainty due to market sentiments allows S&P 500’s meager gains of only 0.01%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased at 0.03%. However, Nasdaq fell at 0.30%.
Despite the marginal gains, both the Nasdaq and S&P marked their seventh straight weeks of losses. This is the longest losing streak since the dotcom bubble in 2001. The Dow for instance has suffered its eighth consecutive weekly decline. This is actually the longest since the Great Depression in 1932.
For investors, inflationary pressures is top. They mirror it to how German wholesale inflation figures were published on Friday. It depicted a higher than expected fall indicating elevated prices remaining in the future. Germany’s producer price index in April increased at 2.8%. It means that the annual growth was at a persistent high of 33.5%. Meanwhile, in Australia, the Labor Party stopped at a near 10 year rule of conservative government for the general election.
