Japanese yen Decline Impacts Nikkei 225

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 1.7% to 38,721.66, partially due to a rise in wholesale inflation, which hit its highest level in July of last year. The Bank of Japan reported that the corporate goods price index increased by 3.4% in October year-over-year, partly attributed to the yen’s decline against the U.S. dollar. South Korea’s Kospi lost 2.6% to 2,417.08, with Samsung Electronics shares falling by 4.5% to their lowest level in over four years. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped for a fourth consecutive day, declining 0.1% to 19,823.45, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.5% to 3,439.28. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.8% to 8,193.40. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% to 5,983.99 on Tuesday, a day after setting a record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9% to 43,910.98, and the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.1% to 19,281.40. Stocks had previously surged on expectations that economic policies could foster growth, though concerns over U.S. government debt have tempered optimism. Smaller U.S. stocks, seen as benefiting from “America First” policies, gave back some of their gains, with the Russell 2000 index falling 1.8%.

Yen decline affects Asian markets

Tesla also fell 6.1%, marking its first loss since the election. Rising Treasury yields have added pressure to the stock market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.42% on Tuesday from 4.31% last Friday. This increase is partly due to the resilient U.S. economy and market adjustments following tariff talk, which put upward pressure on yields and could complicate the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut plans. Bitcoin continued its volatile run, reaching another record high before pulling back slightly. According to CoinDesk, it touched $89,995 before stabilizing around $89,500. Bitcoin had started the year below $43,000. In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude gained 3 cents to $68.15 a barrel, while Brent crude dropped 6 cents to $71.83 a barrel. In currency trading, the U.S. dollar increased to 155.09 Japanese yen from 154.51 yen, and the euro decreased to $1.0607 from $1.0625.