(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks struggled for direction after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell cautioned about further interest-rate reductions, saying a cut in December isn’t a foregone conclusion.
A gauge tracking the region’s stocks was little changed Thursday while South Korean shares gained after striking a trade deal with the US. Contracts for US indexes swung in between gains and losses. Government bonds in Australia and New Zealand tracked Wednesday’s losses in Treasuries, with the yield on the US 10-year trading at 4.07% in early Thursday trading. Gold edged up after four days of losses.
Earnings from tech megacaps were also mixed. Meta Platforms Inc. shares fell 7.7% in extended trading while Alphabet Inc. jumped 6%. Microsoft Corp. also retreated after earnings. Samsung Electronics Co. shares edged up after profit beat estimates.
Following the Fed’s expected rate cut, Powell’s caution about future moves and his focus on labor market risks led investors to scale back easing bets. Against this backdrop, markets now await policy signals from the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank later Thursday, while also watching the upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping for clues on the world’s largest trade dispute.
“Asian markets will certainly start on the back foot today” after anticipation of a Fed cut in December and more an 2026 had spurred global stocks to record highs in recent weeks, said Nick Twidale, chief market analyst at AT Global Markets.
Fed officials delivered their second straight rate reduction to support a softening labor market, and said they would stop shrinking the portfolio of assets on Dec. 1. Governor Stephen Miran dissented again in favor of a larger reduction. Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid said he preferred not to cut rates at all.
“At a time when it’s flying with only one eye open, the Fed decided that the softening in the labor market is a bigger concern than the stickiness of inflation,” said Jack McIntyre at Brandywine Global. “What makes less sense is the odd range of dissents. This divergence means less complacency in financial markets, more volatility, and more two-way flows.”
On trade, Trump and Xi are set to finalize a détente as they meet in South Korea, putting the world’s biggest trade fight on hold — at least for now. China’s purchase of two US soybean cargoes — its first this season — hints at renewed trade flows under a broader pact that may roll back some recent tariffs and export curbs.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan is broadly expected to hold its benchmark interest rate steady at 0.5% on Thursday at its first policy meeting since Sanae Takaichi, a monetary easing advocate, became prime minister last week.
With almost all economists in a Bloomberg survey forecasting a rate hike in December or January, BOJ watchers will be parsing the statements and Governor Kazuo Ueda’s remarks for indications on when the move might come.
“Any hawkish signals could prompt markets to bring forward expectations for rate hikes,” Carol Kong and Samara Hammoud, strategists at Commonwealth Bank of Australia wrote in a note. “A hawkish BOJ is to also weigh on USD/JPY, with the market only pricing a modest chance of a 25 basis point hike before year-end.”
Meanwhile in other corporate news, artificial intelligence startup OpenAI is preparing to file for an initial public offering as soon as next year that may give the company a market capitalization of $1 trillion, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing unidentified sources.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures rose 0.1% as of 9:16 a.m. Tokyo time Hang Seng futures were unchanged Japan’s Topix rose 0.1% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3% Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.2% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1606 The Japanese yen was unchanged at 152.73 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.0956 per dollar The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.6579 Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 1.1% to $110,201.36 Ether fell 1% to $3,911.03 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.07% Japan’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 1.650% Australia’s 10-year yield advanced 10 basis points to 4.32% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3% to $60.30 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.7% to $3,957.05 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Matthew Burgess.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
