Shares in Japan opened slightly lower, weighing down a gauge of Asian equities despite a small gain for shares in Australia. Many of the region’s equity markets including China, South Korea and Taiwan remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
The yen edged higher after a small gain against the dollar Wednesday. Treasuries were steady in early Asian trading after ending Wednesday’s session mostly unchanged as traders parsed tweaks to the Fed’s statement.
The Federal Open Market Committee kept the federal funds rate in a range of 4.25%-4.5%. In a statement, officials repeated that inflation remains “somewhat elevated” but removed a reference to it having made progress toward their 2% goal. Later, Powell clarified the reference to inflation was just a decision to shorten the sentence, rather than send any sort of meaningful signal.
“I find this hard to believe given that the Fed knows the market is hanging on its every phrase and wording,” said Win Thin, global head of markets strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co in New York.
While expectations for a March rate reduction had increased earlier this week during a tech-driven rout in stocks that fueled demand for Treasuries, the swaps market is now pricing in only a narrow chance of a reduction. In the US, tech earnings were in focus. Tesla Inc. climbed after saying it expects vehicle sales to climb this year after a challenging 2024. Meta Platforms Inc. rebounded after an initial slide that followed their results while Microsoft Corp. shares fell as growth in its cloud-computing business slowed during the last three months of last year. International Business Machines Corp. soared on better-than-projected sales and profit.
