Asian stocks were mixed as investors continued to assess the staying power of a rally that brought global equities to a record amid speculation the Federal Reserve is ready to raise interest rates. The yen strengthened while oil slumped.<\/p>\n
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fluctuated while trading volumes slumped throughout much of the region. The Topix index retreated even as data showed Japan\u2019s economy expanded more than initially reported in the fourth quarter. Chinese shares traded in Hong Kong climbed as a report showed imports surged. The dollar slipped after a two-day gain, while the yield on 10-year Treasury notes fell after climbing for seven days to reach 2.51 percent.<\/p>\n
Trepidation is setting in after one of the steepest post-election rallies in history drove the value of global equities towards $71 trillion amid optimism Donald Trump can spur growth with huge spending projects and lower taxes. That pushed valuations on the MSCI All Country World Index to the highest since 2015, approaching the most expensive ever.<\/p>\n
Data from Tokyo showed Japan\u2019s economy has expanded for four consecutive quarters, the longest run in more than three years. But the growth has been modest and mostly driven by exports, while private consumption at home remains soft. China\u2019s imports jumped 44.7 percent while exports rose 4.2 percent in February in yuan terms, though the results were skewed because of the timing of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday.<\/p>\n
Expectations for swings in prices of bonds, currencies and stocks are all falling. Ever since Donald Trump gave his speech to a joint session of Congress last week and Federal Reserve officials including New York Fed President William Dudley ramped up odds of an interest-rate hike this month, volatility metrics across the board have plunged.<\/p>\n
Read our Markets Live blog here.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s ahead for the markets:<\/p>\n
Here are the main moves in markets:<\/p>\n
Stocks<\/p>\n
Currencies<\/p>\n
Bonds<\/p>\n
Commodities<\/p>\n
Source: Bloomberg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Asian stocks were mixed as investors continued to assess the staying power of a rally…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[373],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-market-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n