Asia-Pacific markets set for mixed open ahead of RBA rate decision, key U.S. inflation data
U.S. futures mostly move up in early Asia hours
Here are the opening calls for the day
Good morning from Singapore.
The U.S.-China trade truce extension overnight has allowed the world’s largest economies more room to negotiate a deal.
Investors, meanwhile, await the Australian central bank’s rate decision. The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to slash cash rates to 3.6% from 3.85% at the close of its two-day policy meeting later in the day.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was set to start the day lower with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,783, compared with the index’s Monday close of 8,844.80.
Japan Nikkei 225 was set to open higher, with the futures contract in Chicago at 42,295 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 42,270, against the index’s last close of 41,820.48.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 24,765, pointing to a weaker open compared with the HSI’s last close of 24,906.81.
— Amala Balakrishner
A September rate cut from the Fed would be a risky move, BofA says
Bank of America thinks the Federal Reserve may want to hold off on cutting interest rates at the end of its next FOMC meeting in the wake of the latest jobs report.
“We think those FOMC members that argue for cuts don’t put enough weight on the labor supply shock or the fact that inflation is stuck above target, with risks of a larger and more persistent shock after the latest tariff hikes,” economist Claudio Irigoyen wrote on Monday. “Cutting in September may risk starting the easing cycle without evidence that inflation has peaked.”
He also said that he still doesn’t expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates this year.
“The downward revision to nonfarm payrolls increases the probability of what we view as the most likely alternate scenario: ‘bad cuts,’ due to deterioration in the labor market,” Irigoyen wrote. “We view the combination of policies to be mildly stagflationary, with significant uncertainty regarding the size and timing of the impact on inflation and growth.”
— Sean Conlon
Stocks fall across the board
Stocks fell across the board to end Monday’s session.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 200.52 points, or 0.45%, and closed at 43,975.09. The S&P 500 slipped 0.25% to end at 6,373.45, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.3% to settle at 21,385.40.
— Lisa Kailai Han
