Thanks for watching. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak was dealt a blow ahead of tonight’s TV debate after official figures showed the economy flatlined in April.
According to the UK Office for National Statistics, gross domestic product (GDP) stagnated at 0% growth.
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Five) Matthew Lin: Germany is descending into chaos, and the rest of the eurozone will follow suit | A decade of catastrophic failure is coming back to haunt Europe’s former economic powerhouse
What happened overnight
Asian stocks were mostly lower ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision.
In Japan, rising inflation and falling wages are raising questions about how the central bank can escape near-zero interest rates.
The Bank of Japan will announce its policy decision on Friday. In March, the bank raised its policy rate from minus 0.1 percent to a range of zero to 0.1 percent, its first rate hike in 17 years.
The government said producer prices rose 2.4% in May as the yen’s weakening against the U.S. dollar raised the cost of importing fuel and manufacturing parts. At the same time, the latest data showed real wages fell for the 25th consecutive month in April.
The concern is that the Bank of Japan may refrain from raising interest rates out of fear that rising prices will curb consumer spending and have a negative impact on the broader economy.
Tokyo’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.6% to 38,899.44.
Chinese stocks also fell after the latest inflation data suggested demand remained weak.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.5 percent to 17,913.10, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell less than a point to 3,027.41.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6 percent to 7,710.90. Bangkok’s SET lost 0.1 percent.
In South Korea, tech stocks rallied, helping lift stock prices, with the KOSPI rising 0.5% to 2,718.86. In Taiwan, the Taiex rose 1.2%.
Wall Street was in weak trading on Tuesday ahead of a key inflation report and Federal Reserve policy decision.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to close at 5,375.32, led by gains in technology stocks, even though decliners outnumbered advancers within the index.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.9% to 17,343.55. Both indexes hit record highs for a second straight day, with Apple Inc. providing the lion’s share of the gains, surging 7.3% as it highlighted its work in artificial intelligence technology.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which consists of the 30 largest U.S. companies, fell 0.3% to close at 38,747.42.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.40% from Monday’s close of 4.47%.