Asian Sentiment Mixed as China’s CPI Misses

The Asian and Pacific Rim markets were inching higher by the afternoon during the Asian trade session. Traders are waiting on the Federal Reserve, due later in the day, and are digesting weaker than expected inflation data, for the month of May, out of China.

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 was up a fraction of a percent. The broader Topix index, in Tokyo, was trading around the flat line.

In South Korea, the Kospi composite index was up 0.37 percent and elsewhere in the Asian and Pacific Rim, the Australian ASX 200 was up 0.44 percent.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up 0.64 percent by the afternoon.

Asian Traders Digest weak CPI Data out of China

In economic data, China’s National Bureau of Statistics published May’s producer price index (PPI). The CPI fell 3.7 percent from the year earlier. This was a larger decline than the expected 3.3 percent.

China’s consumer price index (CPI), for May, gained 2.4 percent. This was below the expected increase of 2.7 percent.

Traders are waiting on the Fed to Announce Rates

The main focus the financial markets today will be on the Fed monetary policy and rate announcement later today. No changes to rates or monetary policy is expected.

Traders have noted that Treasury yields have been pushing higher. There are some signs that the U.S. economy is starting to stabilize and recover from the Covid-19 (coronavirus) lockdown.

The Fed might adopt a yield curve control to guide the benchmark ten year yield lower. This, however, is a remote possibility.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which is the monetary policy arm of the Federal Reserve. The FOMC will announce their June monetary policy and rate decision.

The Federal Reserve will also publish economic projections for the first time since March. Also of interest will be the FOMC monetary policy statement and Federal Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference.