Asian Stocks Rise as US Data Eases Rate Hike Fears
Asian stocks mostly rose on Monday after a retreat on Wall Street as investors assessed fresh data from the US that tempered expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike but indicated weakness in the world's top economy.
The US retail sales fell by 0.6 percent in July, the worst performance in over a year, while consumer sentiment plunged due to households battered by fallout from President Donald Trump's Iran war curbing spending and raising expectations of inflation.
Fawad Razaqzada at Forex.com noted that 'taken together, the data suggest that US economic momentum may be losing some steam, strengthening expectations that the Federal Reserve could leave rates unchanged in September.'
Traders now put the chances of a Fed hike at one in four, compared with 50:50 last week, according to Bloomberg.