Asian markets mixed as US inflation fuels rate hike fears
Asian stocks diverged Wednesday as AI sector optimism clashed with hotter-than-expected US inflation data, raising fears of a larger Federal Reserve rate hike in December. Wall Street indexes ended Tuesday in the red, snapping a two-day rally. Tech shares rebounded on bargain-buying after last week's rout, boosted by CoreWeave's strong sales forecast and Anthropic's IPO filing revealing $17 billion in quarterly revenue. However, Nvidia faced an FBI investigation, and traders worried about a possible 50-basis-point rate hike after October consumer prices rose 0.4% month on month, exceeding forecasts. SoftBank tumbled 8% in Tokyo on a $7 billion quarterly loss, while oil prices edged up near $92 a barrel after dropping below $90 for the first time since August. Investors also weighed political implications of the Democratic sweep and AI infrastructure economics.