HONG KONG — Asian stocks on Wednesday followed Wall Street lower as momentum cooled for the torrid “Trump trade” that swept U.S. markets following Donald Trump’s presidential victory.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 1.1% in morning trading to 38,953.44, as wholesale inflation reached its highest level since July of last year. The corporate goods price index, which measures the price changes of goods traded in the corporate sector, rose 3.4% in October year-over-year, according to Bank of Japan data. The increase was partly attributed to the decline of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.5% to 2,445.90. Samsung Electronics shares fell by 2.1% in Wednesday trading, reaching their lowest level in over four years.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped for a fourth day, declining 0.5% to 19,754.92. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.2% to 3,426.98.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell nearly 1.0% to 8,178.00.
U.S. futures dropped while oil prices were higher.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% to 5,983.99, a day after setting its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.9% to 43,910.98, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1% to 19,281.40.
Stocks had been broadly rising since last week on expectations that Trump’s preference for lower tax rates and other policies may mean faster economic growth, as well as bigger U.S. government debt and higher inflation. Some areas of the market rocketed on particularly high-grade fuel, such as smaller U.S. stocks seen as benefiting the most from Trump’s “America First” ideas.
They gave back some of their big gains Tuesday, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell a market-leading 1.8%. Even Tesla, which is run by Trump’s ally Elon Musk, sank. It dropped 6.1% for its first loss since before Election Day.
A jump in Treasury yields also added pressure on the stock market, as trading of U.S. government bonds resumed following Monday’s Veterans Day holiday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped to 4.42% on Tuesday from 4.31% late Friday, which is a notable move for the bond market.
Treasury yields have been climbing sharply since September, in large part because the U.S. economy has remained much more resilient than feared. The hope is that it can continue to stay solid as the Federal Reserve continues to cut interest rates in order to keep the job market humming, now that it’s helped get inflation nearly down to its 2% target.
Some of the rise in yields has also been because of Trump. He talks up tariffs and other policies that economists say could drive inflation and the U.S. government’s debt higher. That puts upward pressure on Treasury yields and could hinder the Fed’s plans to cut interest rates. While lower rates can boost the economy, they can also give inflation more fuel.
The next update on inflation will arrive Wednesday, when the U.S. government will give the latest reading on prices that U.S. consumers are paying across the country. Economists expect it to show inflation accelerated to 2.6% in October from 2.4% the month before. But they’re also looking for underlying inflation trends, which ignore prices for groceries and fuel that can zigzag sharply from one month to another, to stay steady at 3.3%.
In the crypto market, bitcoin soared to another record before pulling back. Trump has embraced cryptocurrencies generally and pledged to make his country the crypto capital of the world. Bitcoin got as high as $89,995, according to CoinDesk, before dipping back toward $89,500. It started the year below $43,000.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude gained 26 cents to $68.38 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 31 cents to $72.20 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged up to 154.75 Japanese yen from 154.51 yen. The euro cost $1.0623, down from $1.0625.
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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.
