Shanghai’s main index dropped 1% to 3,204.93.
(AP) — Most Asian stocks rose on Thursday, following a shaky day of trading on Wall Street that resulted in small gains.
Futures for the U.S. went up a little bit, but oil prices were all over the place.
Shanghai’s benchmark fell by 1% to 3,204.93 after China’s central bank did not change its benchmark lending rate. While other major economies are raising interest rates to slow inflation, China’s economy has been slowing and inflation has stayed about the same.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.5% to 27,946.20. In August, Japan had a record trade deficit. This was due to the high costs of importing energy and other goods, as well as a weak yen.
But analysts said they think there will be a rebalancing in the next few months.
Related: Asian stocks drop at the start, following losses in the US after the inflation report.
In a commentary, Darren Tay of Capital Economics said, “Motor vehicle production should continue to return to normal as supply chain disruptions get better and commodity price growth slows even more.”
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong went up 0.5% to 18,941.04, and the Kospi in Seoul went up 0.1% to 2,413.07.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia went up 0.6% to 6,869.60.
On Wednesday, trading was slow in New York. The day before, the market had its worst drop in two years, which was caused by worries that higher interest rates could lead to a recession.
Even though inflation as a whole has slowed, a report on wholesale inflation showed that prices are still going up quickly and that pressures are building under the surface. It was similar to a report on inflation at the consumer level that came out on Tuesday. That report made people think that interest rates would go up, which caused the markets to drop.
Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 3,946.01, and the Dow rose 0.1% to 31,135.09. The Nasdaq went up 0.7% to 11,719.68, and the Russell 2000 went up 0.4% to 1,838.46.
CME Group says that traders now think there is a one-in-four chance that the Fed will raise its benchmark rate by a full percentage point next week. This is four times more likely than the usual move. A day ago, the odds were more like one in three. The site says that the chance of a three-quarter point rise is now 76%, which is up from 69% on Tuesday.
The central bank has already raised the benchmark interest rate four times this year, with the last two increases being by three-quarters of a percentage point.
The Fed is using interest rates aggressively to try to stop the highest inflation in 40 years. Tuesday’s report on high prices shook the market because it showed that inflation is becoming more stubborn, which could mean that the Fed, which is already very strong, will have to be even stronger.
Wall Street is worried that the rate hikes could slow the economy too much and send it into a recession. The Fed is trying to avoid this, but the most recent inflation reports show that this is getting harder to do.
The U.S. economy as a whole has been slowing down, but consumers have stayed strong and the job market is still doing well. When the government releases its retail sales report for August on Thursday, Wall Street will learn more about how inflation has affected spending since the last report.
Related: Even though China’s COVID worries are growing, Asian stocks keep going up.
The market is also keeping an eye on the tensions between the U.S. and China and the war in Ukraine. Business and government leaders are getting ready for the possibility of a nationwide rail strike at the end of this week, which could stop an already shaky supply chain.
Before the strike deadline on Friday, the railroads have already started to limit shipments of dangerous materials and have said they will stop hauling refrigerated goods. Businesses that depend on Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX, Kansas City Southern, and other railroads to deliver their raw materials and finished goods are preparing for the worst.
Union Pacific went down by 3.7%, and Norfolk Southern went down by 2.2%.
Officials in the Biden administration are working hard to come up with a plan to keep goods moving if the railroads stop working. The White House is also putting pressure on the two sides to come to an agreement, and more and more business groups are asking Congress to be ready to step in and stop a strike if the two sides can’t agree.
In other trading on Thursday, the price of U.S. benchmark crude oil went up by 10 cents to $88.58 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, it went up $1.17 to $88.48.
Brent crude, which is used to set prices for international trade, fell 5 cents to $94.05.
From 143.16 yen at the end of Wednesday, the dollar went up to 143.42 yen. The value of the euro fell from 99.77 cents to 99.73 cents.
