Asian Stocks Decline As Wall Street Tumbles Due To U.S. Jobs Report

Asian stock markets declined Monday, Sept. 5, 2022, after Wall Street ended last week lower and China tightened anti-virus controls.

Photo Insert: Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and South Korea declined. Oil prices rose more than $1 per barrel while the euro edged lower.

Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and South Korea declined. Oil prices rose more than $1 per barrel while the euro edged lower, Joe McDonald reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index ended down 1.1% on Friday after U.S. government data showed hiring slowed in August. The number of jobs added still was big enough that forecasters said the Federal Reserve might see it as evidence more interest rate hikes are needed to bring down inflation that is at a four-decade high.

Asian trading may be “muted to lower” after Wall Street’s “failed attempt” at a rebound following the jobs report, said Yeap Jun Rong of IG in a report.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost less than 0.1% to 3,185.29 after the Chinese government tightened controls on movement in the southern business center of Shenzhen following virus outbreaks.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 0.1% to 27,610.75 while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong tumbled 1.8% to 19,105.24. The Kospi in Seoul lost 0.1% to 2,406.58 while Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 added 0.1% to 6,837.50. New Zealand declined while Singapore and Indonesia advanced.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell 1.1% on Friday after the Labor Department reported the US economy added 315,000 jobs in August. That was down markedly from July’s 526,000, but average hourly pay also jumped by an unusually wide margin of 5.2% compared with a year earlier.

The Nasdaq composite lost 1.3%. Forecasters warned that high wage gains might reinforce the Fed’s belief that more aggressive rate hikes are needed. The US market has given up much of the gains made in July and August when traders hoped the Fed might ease up.

Traders expect another 0.75 percentage point rate hike at this month’s Fed meeting, according to CME Group.

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