Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Thursday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remained cautious after the US Fed indicated it will continue to hold interest rates higher for longer to contain inflation. The prospects of a possible downgrade of several U.S. lenders by Fitch Ratings and lingering concerns about China's economic slowdown also continued to weigh on sentiment. Asian Markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday.
The minutes from the Fed's July meeting said "most of the central bank officials continued to see significant upside risks to inflation, which could require further tightening of monetary policy."
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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.