Stock market today: Asian shares mostly rise after Wall Street recovers
Associated PressTOKYO — Asian shares were mostly higher in early Thursday trading, after Wall Street recovered some losses from the day before. “The positive handover from Wall Street, alongside lower Treasury yields and a weaker U.S. dollar, may offer some relief as Fed Chair’s testimony failed to drive much hawkish deviation from his usual script,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market analyst at IG. As always, Wall Street scrutinized each of Powell’s words for hints about when the Federal Reserve could begin cutting its main interest rate, which is at its highest level since 2001. The job-openings data likely changed little and support the Fed’s current stance, “which is one of patience on future policy decisions,” according to Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. The “Beige Book” released Wednesday also said that the Fed’s 12 regional bank districts are seeing the tight labor market ease a bit.