Asian markets mixed after Wall Street sinks again Associated Press

By Associated Press

BEIJING — Asian stock markets were mixed Friday as traders looked ahead to data on U.S. employment costs that might influence Federal Reserve decisions on planned interest rate hikes.

The Nikkei 225 /zigman2/quotes/210597971/delayed JP:NIK +0.42% in Tokyo surged 2%, recovering most of its losses from the previous day’s 2.5% slide.

The Shanghai Composite Index /zigman2/quotes/210598127/delayed CN:SHCOMP +0.65% was flat and the Hang Seng /zigman2/quotes/210598030/delayed HK:HSI +3.27% in Hong Kong sank 0.8%.

The Kospi /zigman2/quotes/210598069/delayed KR:180721 +0.92% in Seoul rose 1.9% while Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 /zigman2/quotes/210598100/delayed AU:XJO +0.27% advanced 2.1%. Stocks rose slightly in Singapore /zigman2/quotes/210597985/delayed SG:STI +0.34% , while Indonesia /zigman2/quotes/210597981/delayed ID:JAKIDX +0.70% was about flat.

Wall Street fell for a third straight day Thursday after the U.S. government reported the economy grew by 5.7% last year, its strongest annual rate since 1984.

Investors looked ahead to U.S. data on employment costs for indications of when and by how much the Fed might raise interest rates to cool surging inflation. Investors expect at least four rate hikes this year after Fed officials said stimulus that is boosting stock prices would be wound down sooner than previously planned.

The Employment Cost Index is expected to show the price of labor rose by about 1.2% over the previous quarter in the final three months of 2021.

“Another strong wage gain could amplify market expectations” of an unusually large rate hike of 0.5 percentage points as early as March, Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a report.

On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 index /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX -0.39% fell 0.5% to 4,326.51 after official data showed the U.S. economy grew 5.7% last year, its strongest rate since 1984’s 7.2% jump.

The index is within 10 points of entering a correction, meaning a drop of 10% from its Jan. 3 all-time high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average /zigman2/quotes/210598065/realtime DJIA +0.08% slipped less than 0.1% to 34,160.78. The Nasdaq composite /zigman2/quotes/210598365/realtime COMP -1.20% dropped 1.4% to 13,352.78.

Stocks have been on a roller coaster ride this week as investors try to figure out what the Fed will do after Powell said inflation pressures aren’t easing.

“The Fed got inflation wrong and the scramble to deliver interest rate hikes this year is sending the best performing assets during the pandemic tumbling,” said Edward Moya of Oanda in a report.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude rose 61 cents to $87.22 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 74 cents on Thursday to $86.61. Brent crude , the price basis for international oils, advanced 40 cents to $88.57 per barrel in London.

The dollar /zigman2/quotes/210561789/realtime/sampled USDJPY +0.0999% gained to 115.40 yen from Thursday’s 115.31 yen.

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