Asian stock markets fell Wednesday, with the dollar rising slightly from a three-month low after Federal Reserve officials downplayed expectations of positive monetary easing in the market.
Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said Tuesday that the Federal Reserve was "immune to short-term political pressure" to withstand the sharp interest rate cuts demanded by President Trump. But Powell said Federal Reserve policymakers were wrestling with uncertainties such as U.S. tariffs, conflicts with trading partners, and mild inflation, whether interest rate cuts were needed.
In addition, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President Brad said Tuesday that he did not think it necessary for the Fed to cut interest rates by 50 basis points at its next meeting in July, although he had advocated a cut at the Fed meeting last week.
Stocks rose this month and U.S. stocks rose to record highs after the Federal Reserve's policy meeting resolution last week was deemed to have opened the door to interest rate cuts and could be lowered as early as next month.
Fed Watch Tool of CME Group showed that federal fund futures implied that traders had a 27% chance of expecting the Fed to cut interest rates by 0.5 percentage points at its July meeting, compared with 42% on Monday.
Trump said on Twitter Monday that the Fed "has no idea what it's doing," adding that the Fed "raised interest rates too fast" and "screwed up" in the face of low inflation and a slowdown in global growth.
Australian stocks fell 0.15%, Korean Composite Stock Index (KOSPI). KS11 fell 0.1%, Nikkei Index. N225 fell 0.6%, following the overnight decline of U.S. stocks.
China's Shanghai Composite Index. SSEC fell 0.15% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index. HSI fell 0.1%.
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