- After US inflation statistics increased expectations of Federal Reserve rate rises, the rally in Asian markets came to an end as Treasury yields shot up. The recent information showing China's economy's persistent deterioration has deepened the doom.
- With several of the Asia-Pacific region's benchmark indices in the red, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost more than 1% and was on track to end a six-day winning streak. After both consumer and producer prices came in below expectations, which is an indication that the country's economy is still struggling despite the government implementing a number of support measures, Hong Kong and mainland Chinese equities continued to decline.
- Hebe Chen, an analyst at IG Markets, stated that "Asia markets are facing a double whammy that cast significant doubts on the optimism-driven rally of the past few days." "The earlier optimism, which was based on the expectation that the Fed would turn dovish, now appears frail. A yellow-light alarm is also signalled by China's disappointing zero CPI numbers.
- After the core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy expenses, gained 0.3% in the US last month, swap contracts increased the odds of another quarter-point Fed raise to nearly 40% from closer to 30% on Wednesday. The core measure is preferred by economists as a better measure of underlying inflation than the overall CPI, which increased 0.4% on the back of higher energy prices. In all metrics, forecasters had anticipated a 0.3% monthly increase.
- China's trade figures came in somewhat better than expected, and the government is considering creating a stabilisation fund with state backing to boost investor confidence in the country's $9.5 trillion stock market.
