Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Thursday, following the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders digested the latest batch of minutes from the US Fed's latest monetary policy meeting, which showed the central bank remains committed to bringing down inflation. Asian Markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday.
The minutes said the members of the central bank said there would be another 50 or 75-basis point move in the July meeting to further rein in inflation. The minutes also said participants continued to anticipate that ongoing increases in the target range for the federal funds would be appropriate to achieve the monetary policy committee's objectives.
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April 17, 2026 15:29 ET The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to raise concerns for policymakers who worry about the impact of the supply shock and high energy prices on the real economy. Producer price data and various survey results on the housing market were the main news from the U.S. this week. In Europe, industrial production data for the euro area gained attention. GDP figures out of China and the policy move by the Singapore central bank were in focus in Asia.