Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Friday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remain cautious amid mixed signals from the U.S.-Iran peace talks after news of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah emphatically rejecting the terms of a U.S.-backed ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon and said it would not withdraw troops from the country, throwing the future of the wider Middle East truce into an abyss. Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that final negotiations are underway to end the war in Iran, though Iran's foreign minister earlier indicated that talks had stalled.
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Market Analysis
May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.