Asian shares edged higher at the open, led by Japanese equities after the country's gross domestic product beat estimates. MSCI's gauge of Asian shares rose 0.2% as the Topix Index in Japan gained 0.8%. The country's economy expanded faster than expected last quarter, avoiding a recession. Stateside, bonds held their losses after higher inflation data caused traders to pare Federal Reserve interest-rates cuts, sending two-year Treasury yields higher by six basis points to 3.73%. A gauge of the dollar was little changed after gaining 0.4% in the prior session. Risk sentiment had been buoyed in previous days by expectations of monetary easing in the US, with traders fully pricing in a quarter-point reduction. But with US wholesale inflation accelerating in July by the most in three years, traders trimmed the odds of a September rate cut to about 90% from near certainty. We get reaction from Mark Luschini, Chief Investment Strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott.
Plus - traders in Asia will also focus on China's monthly data, which will help gauge the health of the economy as it battles a US trade war and the longest deflation streak since at least the 1990s. Worries of a deepening downturn are mounting, with expectations retail sales growth and industrial production slowed in July from the month prior, according to Bloomberg surveys. We check on the state of consumption in the Asia-Pacific with Matthew Driver, Executive Vice President of Services, APAC at Mastercard.
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