Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday after a missing session on Wall Street.
Benchmarks recorded moderate gains in Hong Kong and Tokyo, but were flat in Sydney and Shanghai. Australian shares declined.
Markets have slowed since last week as investors measured hard-earned corporate earnings yields against renewed concerns that problems with COVID-19 vaccine spreads and delayed release of new variants of coronavirus could recovery from the pandemic.
Traders are also awaiting the outcome of a Federal Reserve policy meeting that will circulate later in the day.
For now, “the current state of financial markets is an expansion,” Jeffrey Halley of Oanda said in a statement.
Because President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 billion incentive package “rubber stamp” by the U.S. Senate will not have forced investors to withdraw from risk, he said.
Tokyo NIK’s Nikkei 225 Index,
added 0.2%, while the Hang Seng HSI,
in Hong Kong gained 0.2%. An Kospi 180721,
in South Korea flat, as was the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP index,
In Australia, the S&P / ASX 200 XJO,
lost 0.8%. Indonesian stocks fell JAKIDX,
but rose in Singapore STI,
and Taiwan Y9999,
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 SPX,
it lost 0.1% to 3,849.62 but was within 0.2% of the record high it set on Monday. Dow Jones industrial average DJIA,
fell 0.1%, to 30,937.04. The Nasdaq tech-heavy comp-tech,
also slipped 0.1%, to 13,626.06.
This is the busiest week to date of the quarterly earnings reporting quarter for U.S. companies.
More than 100 companies in the S&P 500 are expected to tell investors this week how they fared in the last three months of 2020. Overall, analysts expect S&P 500 companies to states that their profit in the fourth quarter fell 5% from a year earlier. That’s a milder decline than the 9.4% they predicted earlier this month, according to FactSet.
Traders are closely monitoring rising coronavirus diseases in different countries and a barrier rollout of vaccines in the U.S. There is a spread of changes that are thought to be easier to administer and treat. could be targeted as effectively as the existing vaccines contribute to panic.
How Biden ‘s plan to send $ 1,400 to the majority of Americans and provide other support to the economy remains uncertain with a narrow majority of Democrats in the Senate. But on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats are willing to push ahead with the relief package, even though it means using procedural tools to pass the legislation. without a Republican.
The rollout of the vaccine and the prospect of more economic stimulus have led to more optimism towards economic recovery this year, but the picture remains unclear.
“Not all of that plays out in a clear way,” said Sylvia Jablonski, chief investment officer at Defiance ETFs. “We still don’t know what level of incentive will come out and when.”
The 10-year Treasury yield rose higher to 1.04% from 1.02% late Monday.
In other trades, benchmark US crude oil CLH21,
22 cents rose to $ 52.83 a barrel in electronic commerce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 16 cents to $ 52.77 a barrel on Tuesday. Brent crude BRNH21,
the international standard, it added 22 cents to $ 55.85 per barrel.
US Dollar USDJPY,
traded at 103.74 yen Japanese, up from 103.62 yen late Tuesday.