HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares were mixed Friday as markets awaited U.S. personal spending data for November that are due later in the day.
U.S. futures and oil prices fell.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index was unchanged at 38,810.26 after the release of November inflation data on Friday. Japan’s core inflation rate, which excludes fresh food prices, rose 2.7% year-on-year, surpassing expectations.
The data followed the Bank of Japan’s decision on Thursday to keep its benchmark rate at 0.25%, which pushed the dollar higher against the Japanese yen.
The dollar was trading at 157.11 yen by early Friday, down from 157.43 yen but still higher than the average of 150 yen earlier this month.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.1% to 19,774.22 and the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.5% at 3,388.22 after China’s central bank kept its loan prime rates unchanged on Friday. The one-year lending rate, which affects corporate and most household loans, remained at 3.1%, while the five-year rate, used as a benchmark for mortgage rates, stayed at 3.6%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 1.3% to 8,061.40. South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.7% to 2,393.60.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 edged 0.1% lower to 5,867.08. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose less than 0.1% to 42,342.24 following Wednesday’s drop of 1,123 points, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1% to 19,372.77.
This week’s struggles have taken some of the enthusiasm out of the market, which critics had been warning was overly buoyant and would need everything to go correctly for it to justify its high prices. But indexes remain near their records, and the S&P 500 is still on track for one of its best years of the millennium with a gain of 23%.
Traders are now expecting the Federal Reserve to deliver just one or maybe two cuts to interest rates next year, according to data from CME Group. Some are even betting on none. A month ago, the majority saw at least two cuts in 2025 as a safe bet.
Wall Street loves lower interest rates because they give the economy a boost and goose prices for investments, but they can also provide fuel for inflation.
Treasury yields were mixed a day after shooting higher on expectations that the Fed would deliver fewer cuts to rates in 2025. Reports on the U.S. economy came in mixed.
One showed the overall economy grew at a 3.1% annualized rate during the summer, faster than earlier thought. The economy has remained remarkably resilient even though the Fed held its main interest rate at a two-decade high for a while before beginning to cut them in September.
