Stock market today: Asian stocks mixed as traders await Fed conference for interest rate update

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed Monday as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s summer conference for signs of whether the U.S. central bank thinks inflation is under control or more interest rate hikes are needed to cool inflation.

Shanghai and Hong Kong retreated while Tokyo and Seoul advanced. Oil prices rose.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index edged down 0.1% on Friday to end the week lower ahead of the Jackson Hole, Wyoming, conference. Fed officials have used the event in previous year's to indicate changes in policy direction.

There “may be rude hawkish surprises” for investors who assume rate hikes are finished, said Tan Boon Heng of Mizuho Bank in a report. Chair Jerome Powell “may allude to structurally higher (and potentially more volatile) inflation being the new norm."

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.4% to 3,119.04 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo advanced 0.4% to 31,573.96. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 1.3% to 17,713.68.

The Kospi in Seoul gained 0.1% to 2,507.16 while Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 shed 0.3% to 7,124.60.

India's Sensex opened up 0.3% at 65,147.47. New Zealand and Singapore retreated while Bangkok and Jakarta gained.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 declined to 4,369.71 on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1% to 34,500.66. The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2% to 13,290.78.

The S&P 500 soared in the first seven months of 2023 but has given back more than one-quarter of those gains after critics warned the market embraced the notion too early that inflation was under control and rate hikes were finished.

Some investors are shifting money to bonds as higher interest rates make their payout bigger and less risky.

Microsoft slipped 0.1% Friday. Alphabet dropped 1.9% and Tesla sank 1.7%.

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