Asia shares struggle, dollar soars on lowered Fed rate cut bets

Asian stock markets were under pressure on Wednesday while the dollar climbed to its firmest against the yen since early April, after U.S. inflation suggested tariffs are pushing prices up, dampening expectations for Federal Reserve policy easing, Reuters reported.

U.S. Treasury yields ticked to the highest in more than a month, lifting the dollar against the yen in particular.

However, tech shares remained resilient following a 4% rally in artificial intelligence darling Nvidia overnight.

Brent crude continued to hover around $69 per barrel.

Data on Tuesday showed U.S. consumer prices rose 0.3% in June, in line with forecasts, but the largest gain since January. Economists attributed the rise in prices across goods such as coffee and home furnishings to the Trump administration’s escalating import tariffs.

The Fed has been keeping interest rates steady as it has waited for indications of the inflationary impact from tariffs, which Chair Jerome Powell had said he expected in the summer.

“We know the revealed preference of Fed Chair Powell, along with a few of his colleagues, is to wait for these tariff impacts to come through, and those in that camp are seeing that view bolstered by this data,” Taylor Nugent, senior economist at National Australia Bank, said in a podcast.

As a result, markets saw “a fairly significant trimming of Fed expectations” for rate cuts, knocking back so-called risk assets such as equities, Nugent said.

Traders currently price in 44 basis points of U.S. rate reductions for the rest of this year, with 56.5% odds of a quarter-point cut in September.

Investors will now carefully monitor producer price data due later on Wednesday, looking for signs of whether inflationary pressures are also building on the factory floor.

Australia’s equity benchmark lost 0.8% and South Korea’s KOSPI slumped 1%.

Mainland Chinese blue chips slipped 0.5% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was flat after giving up early gains.

Japan’s tech- and exporter-heavy Nikkei was little changed after alternating between small gains and losses, with the weak yen offering support.

Taiwan’s tech-heavy benchmark added 0.9%.

U.S. S&P 500 futures eased 0.2%, after a 0.4% decline for the cash index overnight.

Pan-European STOXX 50 futures pointed 0.3% lower.

Beyond the Fed and U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the earnings season is another focal point for investors.

Results from JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup beat expectations, but were met with a mixed market response. Wells Fargo cut its 2025 net interest income guidance even as it beat second-quarter profit expectations.

Bank earnings due on Wednesday include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.

U.S. 10-year Treasury yields rose as high as 4.495% on Wednesday, the highest since June 11.

The dollar stuck close to a multi-week high against major peers. The dollar index was little changed at 98.525 after rising as high as 98.699 on Tuesday for the first time since June 23.

The U.S. currency was steady at 148.835 yen, and earlier rose to 149.19 yen for the first time since April 3, in the aftermath of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement.

The euro rebounded 0.2% to $1.1619, trying to pull away from Tuesday’s three-week low of $1.1593.

Cryptocurrency bitcoin added about 1% to $117,890, as it stabilised following its 6% pullback earlier this week from Monday’s all-time high of $123,153.22.

Gold added 0.5% to trade around $3,338 an ounce.

Brent crude futures fell 18 cents to $68.89 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures declined 31 cents to $66.83 a barrel. Both contracts settled more than $1 lower in the previous session.