Stock market today: Asian markets follow Wall Street swings after Fed keeps interest rates high

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian markets wobbled in early Thursday trading after U.S. stocks swung to a mixed finish with the Federal Reserve delaying cuts to interest rates.

U.S. futures surged and oil prices were higher.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index opened with a decline, then climbed 0.1% to 38,299.71.

The Japanese yen surged as much as 2% in early Asia hours Thursday, driven by speculations of another round of yen-buying intervention by Japanese authorities and a weaker U.S. dollar following the Fed meeting. Later, the yen reversed its course and erased the previous gains. By midday, the dollar was trading at 156.04 yen, up from 154.91 yen.

“As expected, Japan’s Ministry of Finance, via the Bank of Japan, was back selling U.S. dollars to stabilize the yen. Indeed, the Japanese government is digging into their sizable 1.2-trillion-USD war chest, looking to take profit on the dollar they bought back in 2000," Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said in a commentary. He said the hope was to stabilize yen around 155-157 to the dollar.

In South Korea, the Kospi edged 0.1% lower to 2688.80, after official data showed the country’s consumer prices in April reached 2.9% year on year, a slower pace compared to the data in March.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 2.3% to 18,178.43. Other markets in China remained closed for the Labor Day holiday.

Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.5% to 7,603.80.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 5,018.39 after the Fed held its main interest rate at its highest level since 2001, just as markets expected. The index had rallied as much as 1.2% in the afternoon before giving up all the gains at the end of trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 37,903.29, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.3% to 15,605.48.

On the downside for financial markets, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said out loud the fear that's recently sent stock prices lower and erased traders' hopes for imminent cuts to interest rates: “In recent months, inflation has shown a lack of further progress toward our 2% objective.” He also said that it will likely take "longer than previously expected” to get confident enough to cut rates, a move that would ease pressure on the economy and investment prices.

At the same time, though, Powell calmed a fear swirling in the market that inflation has remained so high that additional hikes to rates may be necessary.

“I think it’s unlikely that the next policy rate move will be a hike,” he said.

The Fed also offered financial markets some assistance by saying it would slow the pace of how much it’s shrinking its holdings of Treasurys. Such a move could grease the trading wheels in the financial system, offering stability in the bond market.

Traders themselves had already downshifted their expectations for rate cuts this year to one or two, if any, after coming into the year forecasting six or more. That's because they saw the same string of reports as the Fed, which showed inflation remaining stubbornly higher than forecast this year.

Powell had already hinted rates may stay high for awhile. That was a disappointment for Wall Street after the Fed earlier had indicated it was penciling in three cuts to rates during 2024.

One report from the Institute for Supply Management said the U.S. manufacturing sector unexpectedly fell back into contraction last month. A separate report said U.S. employers were advertising slightly fewer jobs at the end of March than economists expected.

The hope on Wall Street has been that a cooldown could help prevent upward pressure on inflation. The downside is that if it weakens too much, a major support for the economy could give out.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude ended three days of decline and rose 45 cents to $79.45 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 44 cents to $83.88 a barrel.

In currency trading, the euro cost $1.0713, up from $1.0709.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm as pedestrians are reflected on a glass window Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A banner for cruise operator Viking, marking its initial public offering, hangs on the front of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

FILE - A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, on April 22, 2024. Asian stocks fell Wednesday, May 1, 2024 with most of the markets in the region closed for a holiday. Meanwhile, U.S. stocks closed out their worst month since September. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

FILE- A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's stock prices at a securities firm in Tokyo, on April 30, 2024. Asian stocks fell Wednesday, May 1, 2024 with most of the markets in the region closed for a holiday. Meanwhile, U.S. stocks closed out their worst month since September. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry can't expand his privacy lawsuit against The Sun tabloid publisher to include allegations that Rupert Murdoch and some other executives were part of an effort to conceal and destroy evidence of unlawful information gathering, a London judge ruled Tuesday.

The decision by Judge Timothy Fancourt's in the High Court was a mixed ruling for the Duke of Sussex in one of his three major invasion of privacy lawsuits he has brought in his ongoing battles against British tabloids.

Fancourt rejected several of Harry's proposed amendments, but he also allowed the prince to add allegations against other journalists and private investigators that he claims used unlawful means to snoop on him for scoops.

But Fancourt said allegations that Murdoch “turned a blind eye” to wrongdoing added nothing meaningful to claims made against News Group Newspapers, or NGN. The judge said those claims already include “trusted lieutenants,” such as Murdoch's younger son, James Murdoch, and Rebekah Brooks, who was editor at News of the World and The Sun.

The judge said some of Harry's efforts to blame other executives were to further a political agenda.

“There is a desire on the part of those running the litigation on the claimants’ side to shoot at ‘trophy' targets, whether those are political issues or high-profile individuals,” Fancourt wrote. “Tempting though it no doubt is for the claimants’ team to attempt to inculpate the man at the very top, doing so will add nothing to a finding that Ms. Brooks and Mr. James Murdoch or other senior executives knew and were involved, if that is proved to be the case,” Fancourt wrote.

Brooks is chief executive officer of News UK, a division of News Corp. media holdings that controls The Sun and The Times among other publications. James Murdoch resigned from News Corp. in 2020.

Rupert Murdoch, 93, was executive chairman of News Corp. and director of its subsidiary, News International, now News UK, which was NGN’s parent when News of the World folded. Murdoch stepped down last fall as leader of both Fox News’ parent company and his News Corp.

Both sides claimed victory in the ruling that precedes a trial scheduled early next year, but Fancourt said that it was a split victory with the defense gaining an edge on the issues argued.

News Group said that it welcomed the decision.

The company issued an unreserved apology in 2011 to victims of voicemail interception by the News of the World, which closed its doors after a phone hacking scandal. NGN said it has settled 1,300 claims for its newspapers, though The Sun has never accepted liability.

The three-day hearing in March included claims against NGN by others, including actor Hugh Grant, who accused The Sun of tapping his phone, bugging his car and breaking into his home to snoop on him.

Since then, Grant said he had reluctantly agreed to accept "an enormous sum of money” to settle his lawsuit.

Grant said he had to settle because of a court policy that could have stuck him with a huge legal bill even if he prevailed at trial. A civil court rule intended to avoid jamming up the courts would have required Grant to pay legal fees to both sides if he won at trial but was awarded anything lower than the settlement offer.

Attorney David Sherborne has suggested that Harry may have to settle for the same reason.

Harry has a similar case pending against the owner of the Daily Mail.

Last year, he won his first case to go to trial when Fancourt found phone hacking was “widespread and habitual” at Mirror Group Newspapers. In addition to a court judgment, he settled remaining allegations that included his legal fees.

Prince Harry looks round as he arrives at St Paul's Cathedral for a 'Service of Thanksgiving' celebrating 10 years of the Invictus Games Foundation, in London, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)