Shipping containers are loaded onto an international freighter at the international cargo terminal in Tokyo.
Yoshikazu Tsuno | AFP | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were set to open lower on Thursday, breaking ranks with Wall Street that rose overnight after U.S. inflation data met market expectations, fueling hopes rate cut hopes.
Consumer prices increased 2.9% year over year, down from 3% in June and the lowest reading since March 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Wednesday. Month-over-month, prices ticked up 0.2%.
Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a 0.2% increase from the prior month and a 3% gain year-over-year.
Traders in Asia will look toward a slew of economic data from the region on Thursday, with Japan releasing its second-quarter gross domestic numbers and China publishing retail sales, industrial output and urban unemployment data for July.
Japan’s second-quarter GDP is expected to expand 0.5% compared to the previous quarter, according to economists polled by Reuters. The economy had contracted 0.7% in the first quarter.
Australia will also announce its unemployment rate, which is a key metric considered by the Reserve Bank of Australia when formulating its monetary policy.
Futures for Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 stood at 7,832, slightly lower than its last close of 7,850.7.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures also pointed to a weaker open for the market, with the futures contract in Chicago at 36,355 and its counterpart in Osaka at 36,290 compared to the previous close of 36,442.43.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 17,009, lower than the HSI’s last close of 17,113.36.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes rose after the inflation data release, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.61%.
The S&P 500 rose 0.38% and marked its fifth straight winning day, while the Nasdaq Composite reversed earlier losses to close higher by 0.03%.
—CNBC’s Brian Evans and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.