This content was published on <\/p>\n
July 30, 2025 – 00:16\n<\/p>\n
(Bloomberg) \u2014 Asian equities are set for a lackluster start ahead of the Federal Reserve\u2019s policy decision, with investors showing little enthusiasm for progress in US-China trade talks.<\/p>\n
Futures for Tokyo and Hong Kong equities pointed lower, while Sydney contracts were flat after the S&P 500 snapped a six-day rally, slipping 0.3%. Treasuries climbed, led by longer-dated notes, following a solid $44 billion sale. Oil held gains early Wednesday after President Donald Trump\u2019s reiteration that further levies on Russia remained on the table without a Ukraine truce.<\/p>\n
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US and China will continue talks over maintaining a tariff truce before it expires in two weeks and that Trump will make the final call on any extension. Adding an extra 90 days is one option, Bessent said.<\/p>\n
Markets, however, appear increasingly numb to trade developments. Much like the tepid reaction to the US-EU tariff deal, the latest signs of progress with Beijing failed to lift sentiment in a meaningful way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile there is disappointment that nothing material was agreed, the mood seems to be constructive and optimistic about future potential deals,\u201d said Kelvin Lam, senior China economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics in London. \u201cIn the medium term, the extension is basically relaying the uncertainty of trade policies, and it will weigh on the Chinese economy in the second half.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are other market-moving factors on the horizon. Those include Wednesday\u2019s Fed decision \u2014 where policy makers are expected to keep rates on hold \u2014 and key data including Friday\u2019s jobs report. Four tech giants will also report earnings over a two-day stretch.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestors are now more focused on hard data to validate the economic and policy outlook, rather than over-interpreting trade agreements,\u201d said Dilin Wu at Pepperstone Group Ltd.<\/p>\n
On the economic front, US consumer confidence increased as concerns eased about the outlook for the broader economy and the labor market. While job openings fell, they hovered at a level that indicates generally stable demand for workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, it was a mixed round of data that has done little to materially challenge the price action or macro narrative,\u201d said Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets.<\/p>\n
In a rare occurrence, policymakers will convene in the same week that the government issues reports on gross domestic product, employment and the Fed\u2019s preferred price metrics.<\/p>\n
Forecasters anticipate the heavy dose of data will show economic activity rebounded in the second quarter, largely due to a sharp narrowing of the trade deficit, while job growth moderated in July. The third marquee report may show underlying inflation picked up slightly in June from a month earlier.<\/p>\n
With the Fed\u2019s benchmark rate holding at a target range of 4.25% to 4.5% since December, the business world is looking for any clue that officials are moving toward a rate reduction in the fall. Fed Chair Jerome Powell could face dissent from one or more colleagues arguing it\u2019s time for the central bank to provide more support to a slowing labor market.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe the Fed wants to maintain flexibility on when to deploy further rate cuts. In our view, the Fed will remain on hold until \u2018hard data\u2019 begins to confirm the slowdown story,\u201d said Luis Alvarado at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. \u201cThe Fed will have the opportunity to cut rates later in the year if the economy slows and as long as inflation allows.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the main moves in markets:<\/p>\n
Stocks<\/p>\n
Hang Seng futures fell 0.5% as of 7:09 a.m. Tokyo time S&P\/ASX 200 futures were little changed Nikkei 225 futures fell 0.4% S&P 500 futures were little changed Currencies<\/p>\n
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2% Cryptocurrencies<\/p>\n
Bitcoin was little changed at $117,514.48 Ether rose 0.3% to $3,774.02 Bonds<\/p>\n
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined nine basis points to 4.32% Commodities<\/p>\n
Spot gold was little changed at $3,326.62 an ounce West Texas Intermediate crude was unchanged at $69.21 a barrel This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.<\/p>\n
\u2013With assistance from Jacob Gu.<\/p>\n
\u00a92025 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This content was published on July 30, 2025 – 00:16 (Bloomberg) \u2014 Asian equities are set for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[64,63,5471,99,12354,13895,171,2004,12355],"class_list":{"0":"post-31142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bonds","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-business-general","13":"tag-currency-values","14":"tag-markets","15":"tag-stocks","16":"tag-ticker"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}