Aug 29, 04:34 AM

Global Markets Steady as Investors Wait for Key US PCE Inflation

Asian equities were mixed on Friday after Wall Street’s major benchmarks notched fresh records, with investors reluctant to take strong positions ahead of the United States’ July personal-consumption-expenditures inflation report. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.2%, Australia’s ASX 200 edged 0.1% lower and South Korea’s KOSPI added 0.4%, while futures pointed to modest gains in Hong Kong. Shanghai and Shenzhen benchmarks also traded slightly higher. The caution followed another positive U.S. session in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.16% to 45,636.90, the S&P 500 rose 0.32% to 6,501.86 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.53% to 21,705.16—each setting a record close. Chipmaker Nvidia’s 56% jump in quarterly revenue underpinned the broader AI theme that has propelled U.S. equities this year. Attention now turns to the PCE price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of inflation, due at 08:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Economists expect headline PCE to rise 2.6% year-on-year and core PCE to accelerate to 2.9%. A figure below forecasts could reinforce wagers on a 25-basis-point rate cut at the Fed’s September meeting; a stronger reading could temper those bets. Some analysts warn that the 145% U.S. tariff on Chinese imports, which took effect in April, may be filtering into consumer prices and could complicate the Fed’s path. Futures markets still assign better than an 80% probability to a September cut, but traders will recalibrate positions once the inflation data are released.