Asian shares trade higher after Wall Street climbs moderately as Fed holds rates steady

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares rose moderately Thursday after a lackluster finish on Wall Street, with most shares ticking higher after the Federal Reserve left its main interest rate unchanged, as was widely expected.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.2% in morning trading to 36,863.15. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 8,190.40. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.3% to 2,581.62. Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 0.8% to 22,864.74, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.8% to 3,342.66.
Investors continue to watch with trepidation President Donald Trump 's comments about the trade imbalance, as well as the reactions from various nations to appease the U.S. administration and the overall confusion over the long-term economic impact.
Geo-political tensions also weighed on market sentiments, centered around the standoff between India and Pakistan. Pakistan has said it will avenge those killed by India's missile strikes, which New Delhi called retaliation for last month's massacre of Indian tourists in India-controlled Kashmir. Pakistan called the strikes an act of war and claimed it downed several Indian fighter jets.
The missiles killed 31 people, including women and children, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the country's Punjab province, Pakistan's military said. The strikes targeted at least nine sites 'where terrorist attacks against India have been planned,' India's Defense Ministry said. Two mosques were hit.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 gained 0.4%, coming off a two-day losing streak that had snapped its nine-day winning run. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 284 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3%.
Indexes swiveled repeatedly through the day, and the Dow briefly climbed as many as 400 points on hopes that the United States and China may be making the first moves toward a trade deal that could protect the global economy. The world's two largest economies have been placing ever-increasing tariffs on products coming from each other in an escalating trade war, and the fear is that they could cause a recession unless they allow trade to move more freely.
The announcement for high-level talks between U.S. and Chinese officials this weekend in Switzerland helped raise optimism, but some of that washed away after Trump said he would not reduce his 145% tariffs on Chinese goods as a condition for negotiations. China has made the de-escalation of the tariffs a requirement for trade negotiations, which the meetings are supposed to help establish.
Such on-and-off uncertainty surrounding tariffs has helped create sharp swings within the U.S. economy, including a rush of imports in the hopes of beating tariffs. Underneath those swings, as well as surveys showing U.S. households are growing much more pessimistic about the future, the Fed said it continues to see the economy running 'at a solid pace' at the moment.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Fox News

28 minutes ago

• Fox News

Gabbard was in Situation Room on Iran, still key player despite Trump saying she was 'wrong' on intel

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was inside the Situation Room Saturday when the U.S. military launched successful strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, a White House official confirmed to Fox News Digital Sunday morning. A White House official confirmed Gabbard was in the room Saturday and that she is a "key player" on President Donald Trump's national security team. Speculation had mounted there was a rift between Gabbard and Trump after the president told the media Gabbard was "wrong" about intelligence on Iran back in March when she testified before the Senate that the nation was not actively building a nuclear weapon. Photos of the Situation Room released Saturday evening did not show Gabbard present alongside Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and other administration officials. The photos, however, did not include wide shots showing the entire room or each individual present, with the White House confirming the intelligence chief was present. Trump and Gabbard appeared at odds earlier in June, when the president was asked about Gabbard's testimony before the Senate in March, when she reported intelligence showed Iran was not actively building a nuclear weapon. Trump told the media June 16 he did not "care" what Gabbard had to say in previous testimony, arguing he believed Iran was close to building a nuke. "You've always said that you don't believe Iran should be able to have a nuclear weapon," a reporter asked Trump while aboard Air Force One on June 16. "But how close do you personally think that they were to getting one?" "Very close," Trump responded. Then again Friday, Trump said Gabbard was "wrong" after she reported that Iran was not actively building a nuclear weapon. "My intelligence community is wrong," Trump said when asked about the intelligence community previously reporting that Iran was not actively building a nuclear weapon. When Gabbard appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee in March, she delivered a statement on behalf of the intelligence community that included testimony that Iran was not actively building a nuclear weapon. "Iran's cyber operations and capabilities also present a serious threat to U.S. networks and data," Gabbard told the committee March 26. The intelligence community "continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003," she said. She did add that "Iran's enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons." "Iran will likely continue efforts to counter Israel and press for U.S. military withdrawal from the region by aiding, arming and helping to reconstitute its loose consortium of like-minded terrorist actors, which it refers to as its axis of resistance," she warned. However, as critics picked apart Gabbard's past comments, the White House stressed to Fox Digital that Gabbard and Trump were closely aligned on Iran. A White House official told Fox News Digital on Tuesday afternoon that Trump and Gabbard are closely aligned and that the distinction being raised between Gabbard's March testimony and Trump's remarks that Iran is "very close" to getting a nuclear weapon is one without a difference. The official noted that Gabbard had underscored in her March testimony that Iran had the resources to potentially build a nuclear weapon. Her March testimony reflected intelligence she had received that Iran was not building a weapon at the time but that the country could do so based on the resources it amassed for such an endeavor. Gabbard took to social media and blasted the media for "intentionally" taking her March testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee "out of context." "The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division," Gabbard said in a Friday post on X, accompanied by a video clip of her March testimony to Congress. "America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly," she wrote. "President Trump has been clear that can't happen, and I agree." Trump announced in a Saturday evening Truth Social post that the U.S. military had carried out strikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran, obliterating them. Trump held an address to the nation later Saturday night, describing the strikes as wildly successful and backing Iran into a corner to make a peace deal. "A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan," Trump said from the White House on Saturday evening. "Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number-one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success." "For 40 years, Iran has been saying, 'Death to America. Death to Israel.' They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs," Trump continued. "That was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people, and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate in particular." Fox News Digital reached out to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for any additional comment on the Sunday strikes, but did not immediately receive a reply.

Bloomberg

28 minutes ago

• Bloomberg

Fed's Daly Says Central Bank Communication Should Be Flexible

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly said central bankers need to communicate with flexibility at times of uncertainty, given that using strong forward guidance sometimes 'comes with a price.' 'The economy is dynamic, and our communications must match it,' Daly said Sunday in a speech prepared for the Western Economic Association International's 100th Annual Conference. Daly didn't comment on the outlook for the economy or policy in her written remarks, which she also said were not about the Fed's ongoing framework review.

Business Insider

36 minutes ago

• Business Insider

Fed Holds Rates as Inflation Eases – July Cut Seems Possible

May's inflation numbers came in soft, and the Federal Reserve is staying patient. The latest data showed core PCE inflation rose just 0.1% for the third month in a row, marking the calmest stretch since the pandemic. That gives the Fed more breathing room, though rate cuts are not guaranteed just yet. Confident Investing Starts Here: Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter The Fed's preferred inflation gauge excludes food and energy and is now showing steady disinflation. On the surface, that supports the case for easing policy. But officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, want to see more evidence before making any move. Powell is scheduled to speak to Congress this week, where he's expected to stick with the 'wait and see' message. No Cuts Are Expected Before July 30 At its June meeting, the central bank kept the benchmark rate unchanged. It also projected two rate cuts by the end of 2025. However, the timeline remains flexible, especially with tariff policies and geopolitical risks in the mix. Fed Governor Christopher Waller said last Friday that inflation from tariffs will likely be temporary and that there's room for cuts as soon as July. The next rate decision is on July 30. The market is starting to price that in. The yield on the 10-year Treasury is holding near 4.2%, while the CME FedWatch Tool shows rising odds of a cut next month. That could be good news for rate-sensitive sectors, including real estate, tech, and consumer discretionary. Investors who want to keep up with all of the latest economic data can do so with the TipRanks Economic Indicators Dashboard. What it means for investors For investors, the focus now shifts to consumer spending, income trends, and the broader impact of tariffs. Household spending remained modest in May. Inflation-adjusted disposable income rose 0.6% over the last three months, the best run in over two years. However, consumer sentiment has declined, partly due to uncertainty surrounding trade policy. Oil prices may also add pressure in the weeks ahead. After U.S. airstrikes in Iran, Brent crude is expected to climb. If the Strait of Hormuz is disrupted, oil could spike toward over $100 per barrel, potentially pushing inflation back up. The bottom line is that Inflation looks tame, and the Fed is holding steady. But the path to cuts remains data-dependent. July could bring the first move, but that hinges on how inflation, tariffs, and spending evolve in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.