Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Wednesday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, amid the uncertainty about the ongoing war in the Middle East after U.S. President Donald Trump again extended the two-week ceasefire indefinitely until Tehran submitted a "unified proposal" to end the war with the U.S. and Israel. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Tuesday.
Trump on Tuesday extended the two-week U.S. ceasefire with Iran, saying the extension was warranted due to Tehran's government being "seriously fractured." He added that the ceasefire would be extended until Tehran submitted a proposal or discussions were concluded, and that the U.S. military would continue its blockade of Iranian ports.
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May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.