- Asian stocks fell and treasuries rose amid a bleak Chinese economic outlook and Federal Reserve minutes indicating officials face a delicate balancing act to keep inflation under control while avoiding recession.
- An Asian equity gauge was weighed down by losses in Japan, China, and Hong Kong. US contracts fell after Wall Street shares fell for the first time in four days, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index falling more than 1%.
- Fed officials saw the need to gradually slow the pace of interest-rate increases and warned against over-tightening, which could harm the economy, but they also warned against inflationary pressures becoming entrenched.
- Meanwhile, economists at Goldman Sachs reduced their forecast for China's full-year growth to 3% from 3.3%. The country is hampered by a real estate crisis, rolling covid curbs, and a recently stressed power supply.
- The rise in treasuries reduced the 10-year yield to around 2.87%. A dollar index was stable. The Australian dollar fell after an unexpected drop in employment figures.
