Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Thursday, following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders digested the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, which indicated the US Fed is preparing to begin reducing the size of its balance sheet soon after raising interest rates. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday.
The sell-off came as the Fed minutes seemed to have a more hawkish tone, raising concerns the central bank will be more aggressive than anticipated. According to the minutes of the December 14-15 meeting, members of the Fed are preparing to begin reducing the size of the central bank's approximately $8.8 trillion balance sheet soon after raising interest rates.
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April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.