A pedestrian walks past a display board showing the numbers on the Tokyo Stock Exchange along a street in Tokyo on August 5, 2024. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
TOKYO, Japan — Asian shares were mixed Wednesday ahead of a decision on interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
U.S. futures edged higher while oil prices declined.
Japan reported that it logged a trade surplus in February, with exports rising more than 11 percent. The Japanese central bank opted to keep its benchmark rate unchanged, as expected. The Fed also is expected to hold rates steady.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.2 percent to 37,900.88 after the central bank decided to keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.5 percent.
READ: Bank of Japan leaves key interest rate unchanged at 0.5%
The U.S. Federal Reserve is also expected to keep rates steady.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2 percent to 24,777.01, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, inching down less than 0.1 percent to 3,427.76.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.3 percent to 7,836.80. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.9 percent to 2,634.60.
Fed meeting
Much attention will focus Wednesday on forecasts the Fed will publish after its meeting, showing the outlook for interest rates, inflation and the economy. For now, traders on Wall Street are largely expecting the Fed to deliver two or three cuts to rates by the end of 2025.
READ: US Fed expected to sit tight as Trump tariff fears buffet markets
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 dropped 1.1 percent to 5,614.66 for its latest swerve in a scary ride, where it tumbled by 10 percent from its record and then rallied for two straight days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6 percent to 41,581.31, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.7 percent to 17,504.12.
Tesla was one of the heaviest weights on the market, falling 5.3 percent. The electric-vehicle maker’s stock has been struggling due to declining sales and worries over anger toward its CEO, Elon Musk, who has been leading efforts to cut spending by the U.S. government.
EV rivals, meanwhile, continue to chip away at its business. China’s BYD on Monday announced an ultra-fast charging system that it says is nearly as quick as a gasoline fill-up.
Big Tech
Alphabet sank 2.2 percent after the owner of Google said it would buy cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion. It would be the company’s most expensive purchase in its 26-year history, and it could boost the tech giant’s in-house cloud computing amid burgeoning artificial-intelligence growth.
READ: Alphabet to buy cybersecurity startup Wiz for $32 billion
The drop for Big Tech continues a trend that’s taken hold in the market’s recent sell-off: Stocks whose momentum had earlier seemed unstoppable have since dropped sharply following criticism they had simply grown too expensive.
Chief among them have been stocks that zoomed higher in the frenzy around AI technology. Nvidia fell 3.3 percent as it hosted an event known as “AI Woodstock.” Super Micro Computer, which makes servers, lost 9.6 percent. Palantir Technologies, which offers an AI platform for customers, sank 4 percent.
Trump tariffs
They’ve been among the biggest losers as Wall Street retrenches amid uncertainty about what President Donald Trump’s trade war will do to the economy. Trump’s rat -a- tat announcements on tariffs and other policies have created worries that U.S. households and businesses could hold pull on their spending, which would hurt the economy.
It all makes things more complicated for the Federal Reserve, which is beginning its latest meeting on interest-rate policy and will make its announcement on Wednesday.
Virtually everyone expects the Fed to stand pat. Cutting its main interest rate would make it easier for U.S. businesses and households to borrow, helping to boost the economy. But lower interest rates can also push inflation upward, and U.S. consumers shell-shocked by high prices have already begun bracing for even higher inflation because of tariffs.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell 26 cents to $66.65 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 23 cents to $69.89 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged up to 149.42 Japanese yen from 149.25 yen. The euro cost $1.0941, down slightly from $1.0946.