SINGAPORE/NEW YORK- Stocks rose and US Treasury yields firmed on Wednesday as investors assessed the latest US tariff salvo along with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s signal of a patient path for rate cuts.
Despite all the uncertainty, stock futures pointed to a positive open in Europe, as investors focused on corporate earnings and the prospect that threatened US duties could be used as a negotiating tool instead, with more punitive measures watered down or postponed.
EUROSTOXX 50 futures were up 0.2 percent while DAX futures gained 0.27 percent. FTSE futures were flat.
European shares had closed a choppy Tuesday session at a record high, with the benchmark STOXX index logging gains of nearly 8 percent so far this year.
Nasdaq futures were little changed, while S&P 500 futures slipped 0.08 percent.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.55 percent, though gains were capped as traders awaited the US inflation figures.
China’s CSI300 blue-chip index and the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3 percent each.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 1.83 percent. Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba surged to a four-month peak after a media report that it is partnering with Apple to roll out artificial intelligence features for iPhone users in China.
Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.4 percent.
Financial markets were largely biding time ahead of a reading on US consumer prices due later in the day which could guide the outlook for monetary policy there.
Investors also had their eye on any tariff developments, with advisers to US President Donald Trump said to be finalizing plans for reciprocal tariffs that he has vowed to impose on every country that charges duties on US imports.
Trump had on Monday raised tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 25 percent from the previous 10 percent, eliminated country exceptions, as well as product-specific exclusions, though said he was considering an exemption for Australia.
Japan’s industry minister Yoji Muto said on Wednesday that the government has also requested that the United States exempt Japan.
