Asian Shares Trading Mixed as Investors Gauge Inflation Data

Asian shares were trading mixed Tuesday after a rally on Wall Street that regained some of the losses from the market’s worst week in nearly a year and a half.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose nearly 0.2% in afternoon trading to 36,282.25. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4% to 8,021.10, while South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.3% to 2,529.02. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.4% to 17,270.12. The Shanghai Composite declined 0.2% to 2,729.86.

Investor attention is now turning to the latest monthly updates on inflation at the consumer and wholesale levels that will be released later in the week.

The United States Federal Reserve has been using high interest rates to pump the brakes on the economy in order to stifle inflation. It’s expected to start lowering rates later in September, which would ease the pressure on the economy, as it turns its focus toward protecting the job market and avoiding a recession.

Monday on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rallied 1.2% to 5,471.05, though it didn’t recoup all of its drop from Friday, let alone from the rest of the four-day losing streak that it broke. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2% to 40,829.59, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1.2% to 16,884.60.

Boeing climbed 3.4% after reaching a tentative deal with its largest union on a new contract that, if ratified, will avoid a strike that threatened to shut down aircraft production by the end of the week. Boeing said 33,000 workers represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers would get pay raises of 25% over the four-year contract.

Nvidia and other Big Tech companies also returned to their long-held position of leading the market, at least briefly. Nvidia climbed 3.5% and was the strongest force pushing the S&P 500 upward, after tumbling 13.9% tumble the previous week.

Apple’s stock was virtually flat after the company unveiled its latest iPhone model, the 16. It’s the first model to be tailored specifically for artificial intelligence, with expected improvements to virtual assistant Siri.

In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield edged down to 3.71% from 3.72% late Friday. In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell 19 cents to $68.52 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 15 cents to $71.69 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged down to 143.09 Japanese yen from 143.15 yen. The euro cost $1.1041, little changed from $1.1040.