Asian shares track Wall Street higher, markets hope for dovish stance from Powell
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Asian shares tracked Wall Street higher on Tuesday as markets hoped the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell would sound dovish about easing prospects later in the day. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3% to just a touch below a two-year top hit on Monday. Japan's Nikkei jumped 1% to a fresh record high. S&P 500 futures gained 0.2% and Nasdaq futures firmed 0.3%, after Wall Street equities inched higher to close at record highs overnight. Fed Chair Powell is set to appear before Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday, as investors wagered a slew of soft labour market data has greatly increased the chance of a rate cut in September to about 80%. The main economic event this week will be the U.S. consumer price report on Thursday, where headline inflation for June is expected to slow to 3.1%, from 3.3% in May, with the core steady at 3.4%. In the foreign exchange markets, the U.S. dollar steadied near four-week lows at 104.98 against a basket of currencies, offering some respite to the battered yen and yuan. Treasuries were steady, having ended Monday mixed. Ten-year government bond yield held at 4.2764%, having slipped for four straight sessions, while two-years were flat at 4.6243%, nearing a three-month low. In commodity markets, gold rose 0.2% to $2,363.31 an ounce, having fallen 1.4% overnight. Oil prices were little changed after a hurricane that hit a key U.S. oil producing hub in Texas caused less damage than expected.

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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-shares-track-wall-street-021507219.html