Warsh Speech in Focus as Asia's Stock Markets Turn Cautious

Asia's stock markets turned cautious on Friday after a recent technology rally led by Nvidia. The chipmaker reported robust results and signaled that the AI spending boom has years left to run, causing Taiwanese shares to gain 1.2%.

The Nikkei rose 0.5%, but South Korea's KOSPI fell 1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.3%. The S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were off 0.1%, while EURO STOXX 50 futures edged up 0.3%.

All eyes are on the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Symposium, where chair Kevin Warsh is set to speak later in the day. Three Fed officials have already sounded the alarm about sticky inflation, but Warsh has resisted providing forward guidance on interest rates.

Markets are hoping that he will reduce some uncertainty surrounding the Fed's reaction function, but analysts at ANZ note that this may not happen. They warn that if Warsh offers too little, it could lead to an adverse market reaction.