- Overnight on Wall Street, major stock indexes saw their best day since March after the release of strong quarterly results from some of the largest U.S. companies.
- U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the Fed again on Tuesday, calling it his “biggest threat.”
Stocks in Asia were higher on Wednesday morning following a strong bounce on Wall Street overnight.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 advanced by 1.32 percent in early trade, while the Topix index also saw gains of 1.16 percent, with most sectors trending up.
In South Korea, the Kospi also bounced higher by 1.64 percent in early trade.The ASX 200 traded up by 0.84 percent in the morning.
Overnight on Wall Street, the major indexes saw saw their best day since March, with stocks rising on the back of strong quarterly results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped by 547.87 points to close at 25,798.42, while the S&P 500 rose by 2.1 percent to end the trading day stateside at 2,809.92. The Nasdaq Composite also jumped by 2.9 percent to close at 7,645.49.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump continued his criticism of the Federal Reserve, calling it his “biggest threat” as it was “raising rates too fast.” In an interview with Fox Business, Trump said, in reference to Fed Chair Jerome Powell: “I’m not happy with what he’s doing because it’s going too fast. Because — you look at the last inflation numbers, they’re very low.”
Trump had previously said the Fed has “gone crazy” and attributed last week’s plunge on Wall Street to the U.S. central bank.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 95.065 in the morning of Asian trade, after seeing lows below 94.8 yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Japanese yen was at 112.33 against the dollar after weakening from levels around 111.8 yesterday. The Australian dollar traded at $0.7142, largely firming after seeing a low below the 0.712 mark yesterday.
In the oil markets, prices saw an increase in the morning of Asian trade. The global benchmark Brent crude futures contract saw gains of 0.43 percent at $81.76 per barrel, while the U.S. crude futures contract advanced by 0.47 percent to $72.26 per barrel.
