After a busy week, Asian stock markets remained sluggish on Friday.
Early in the morning Finnish time, mainland China’s CSI 300 was down 0.6 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.7 percent, and Tokyo’s Nikkei was up 0.6 percent.
Chinese stocks and the country’s currency, the yuan, weakened on Wednesday, when Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. Trump has promised tariffs of up to 60 percent on Chinese products. In the end, in the eyes of investors, the Chinese administration’s promises to revive the economy were more important. The country’s published export figures also spoke well of the recovery. All in all, the week was good for Chinese stocks, for example.
The tailgate was also adopted in the western market. On Wednesday, the dollar exchange rate and the interest rate on the US 10-year government bond jumped sharply. By Friday, about half of the shop had been restored. The dollar earned 0.927 euros, i.e. still more than before the election day. The interest rate on the 10-year government bond hovered at 4.332 percent.
The US stock market seemed to be holding tighter to its gains, with futures swinging in the morning Finnish time still at all-time record readings.
“It seems that even the most enthusiastic Trump investors seem to be taking a step back and wondering if the bets are exaggerated at this point,” says Mizuho bank’s strategy director Vishnu Varathan Bloombergille.
Investors now have to assess more precisely how likely it is that Trump’s wild election promises will come true.
The central bank Fed’s open market committee meeting that ended on Thursday did not give the market reason to worry. The central bank has now lowered its key interest rate for the second time in a row. The new interest rate range is 4.50–4.75 percent, while in September it was 5.25–5.5 percent. The decision was unanimous and in line with market expectations.
Trump was brought into the conversation so much that the head of the Fed had to answer questions about the future president’s plans for the central bank. Director general Jerome Powell according to his words, he is not going to resign, even if Trump wants him to.