Asian Stocks Down Over Hawkish Comments Ahead of Jackson Hole By Investing.com

By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were down on Friday morning, with investors digesting hawkish comments from some U.S. Federal Reserve officials ahead of its Jackson Hole symposium and the latest developments in Afghanistan.

Japan’s was down 0.48% by 9:53 PM ET (1:53 AM GMT) while South Korea’s inched up 0.09%.

In Australia, the edged down 0.11% and Hong Kong’s was down 0.33%.

China’s fell 1.09% while the slid 1.92%. Chinese technology shares slid as earnings disappointed, and the country tightens private industries’ regulations. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index that tracks Chinese shares listed in the U.S. retreated for the first time in five days.

Some Fed officials insisted that asset tapering begin soon ahead of Jackson Hole. Dallas President Robert said he favors starting October 2021 or shortly after, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard called for a start in fall 2021 and Kansas City Fed President Esther George urged for an early move to begin in 2021. However, Kaplan, Bullard and George will not vote on policy in 2021.

U.S. Treasury yields edged lower as investors await Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s symposium speech later in the day. Investors are bracing for some market volatility after his remarks, with several Treasury options expiring on Friday.

Some investors remained cautiously optimistic.

The equity market is likely “underestimating all the known unknowns we’re going to be living with for the next three to six months,” Eaton Vance (NYSE:) Management fund manager Yana Barton told Bloomberg.

“You don’t have to make a bet of whether this is a cyclical recovery or a growth recovery, why can’t you do one alongside the other?” she added.

On the data front, U.S. grew 6.6% quarter-on-quarter, and the grew 6.2% quarter-on-quarter, in the second quarter. Americans also filed a total of 353,000 throughout the week.

Further data, including the as well as personal and , is due later in the day.

Meanwhile, blasts outside Afghanistan’s Kabul airport raised tensions amid the U.S. evacuation from the country. U.S. President Joe Biden warned the attackers that “we will hunt you down.”