Asian benchmarks mostly decline as investors anticipate US rate cut

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly lower, trading in a narrow range ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting later Wednesday that’s expected to result in the third cut to interest rates this year.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 0.4% in morning trading to 50,447.95. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped nearly 0.1% to 8,580.30. South Korea’s Kospi inched up less than 0.1% to 4,144.61. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.4% to 25,337.62, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.6% to 3,887.00.

Eric Schiffer, chairman of The Patriarch Organization private equity firm, expects markets to do well for the rest of the year, and possibly next year.

“The Fed may be even more accommodating than what the market is currently reading. I also believe there is a strong likelihood that there will be more easing on the financial side, either through a more specified quantitative easing or further regulatory adjustments so that next year is even more buoyant not only for consumers but overall,” he said.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% and remained near its all-time high set in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 179 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.1%.

The widespread expectation is that the Fed will cut interest rates for the third time of the year. Lower interest rates can boost the economy and prices for investments, though they can worsen inflation. The U.S. stock market has run to the edge of its records in part because of the assumption the Fed will cut rates again.

The big question is what the Fed will say about where interest rates will go after that. Some on Wall Street are bracing for talk aimed at tamping down expectations for more cuts in 2026.

Inflation has stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2% target, and Fed officials are notably split in their opinions about whether high inflation or the slowing job market is the bigger threat to the economy.

Treasury yields climbed in the bond market after a report on Tuesday showed that U.S. employers were advertising 7.7 million job openings at the end of October. That’s up a smidgen from the month before and the highest number since May.

After the report on job openings came out, the yield on the 10-year Treasury erased what had been an earlier dip and rose to 4.18% from 4.17% late Monday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 3.60% from 3.57% late Monday.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Exxon Mobil climbed 2% after increasing its profit forecast over the next five years. Home Depot fell 1.3% after its preliminary forecast for 2026 said the broad home improvement market may shrink by up to 1%.

The market’s most influential stock, Nvidia, slipped 0.3% after President Donald Trump allowed it to sell an advanced chip used in artificial-intelligence technology to “approved customers” in China. The H200 is not Nvidia’s top product.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 13 cents to $58.39 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 13 cents to $62.07 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar fell to 156.67 Japanese yen from 156.77 yen. The euro was unchanged at $1.1627.