Equity
Stocks in Asia slipped in Wednesday morning trade as investor concerns over the outlook for the global economy lingered.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan declined 0.58 percent in early trade. The Topix index also fell 0.87 percent.
In South Korea, the Kospi slipped 0.57 percent. Meanwhile, the ASX 200 in Australia declined 0.5 percent in morning trade, with almost all sectors seeing losses.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 140.90 points to close at 25,657.73, while the S&P 500finished its trading day higher by 0.7 percent at 2,818.46 — its first gain in three sessions. The Nasdaq Compositeadded 0.7 percent to close at 7,691.52.
Treasury Yield
The gains on Wall Street were trimmed, but the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rebounded off lows.
The benchmark rate sat at about 2.42 percent on Tuesday afternoon stateside, about 3 basis points below its session high. That move came a day after reaching its lowest level since December 2017. The 10-year’s decline caused a so-called yield-curve inversion as the 3-month Treasury bill yield moved above the benchmark rate.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 96.765 after bouncing from lows below 96.6 yesterday.
The Japanese yen, widely viewed as a safe-haven currency, traded at 110.45 against the dollar after seeing lows around 110.6 in the previous session. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7135 after seeing highs above $0.714 yesterday.
Oil prices slipped in the morning of Asian trading hours, with the international benchmark Brent crude futures contract declining 0.16 percent to $67.86 per barrel. U.S. crude futuresalso shed 0.18 percent to $59.83 per barrel.
