Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Wednesday, following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street, dragged by weakness in materials and energy stocks as commodities prices tumbled on the prospects of looming recession hurting demand. The surge in COVID-19 infections in China also hurt market sentiment as it reignited worries about potential lockdowns. Asian Markets closed mostly higher on Tuesday.
Traders looked ahead to the release of the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting later today for cues on the state of the economy.
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May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.