- Following Jerome Powell's warning that interest rates could need to rise further, shares in Asia declined, impeding a rally in stocks and bonds and driving investors back to the dollar.

- Every significant equity index in the area was down, mirroring the S&P 500's decline on Thursday. Following disappointing profit announcements from chipmaker SMIC and casino operator Wynn Macau, Hong Kong's stocks saw some of the largest losses. After eight days of advances, the US benchmark fell 0.8%, marking the end of its best run since 2021. European futures suggested a shaky beginning.

- After plunging on Thursday to reverse a portion of this week's strong rise, Treasury bonds steadied in Asia, with the longer tenors seeing the biggest increase in rates. A bad 30-year note auction that resulted in a yield that was much higher than anticipated and renewed investor concerns that they would find it difficult to absorb the increasing amount of new debt was the catalyst for the selling.

- Fed Chair Powell stated that if more policy tightening is required, authorities won't think twice about doing so. Even though that's essentially what a number of Fed speakers have been saying, investors were particularly interested in it on Thursday, particularly following a surge in both bonds and stocks. Trading professionals projected a marginal increase in the likelihood of a subsequent raise while delaying the first anticipated 25 basis point rate drop from June to July.

- The remarks made by Powell were "clearly more hawkish than traders were positioned for," according to City Index senior market analyst Matt Simpson. "Because yields have pulled back somewhat over the last two weeks, there is a lot of risk today as a result of their sharp increase on Thursday," the statement reads.


Ben
Ben