Asian stock markets rebounded Wednesday after Wall Street stabilized following declines for bank stocks and U.S. inflation eased but stayed high. Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced. Oil prices rose more than $1 per barrel, recovering some of the previous day's losses. Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index rose Tuesday as bank stocks recovered some of their losses caused by worries customers might pull out deposits following the collapse of two U.S. lenders. Stocks rose despite data showing prices rose 6% over a year ago in February, decelerating from the previous month's 6.4% but above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. Also Read: Asian shares mostly sink on jitters after US bank failure “The anchoring of less hawkish expectations provided some catalyst for risk sentiments to recover,” said Yeap Jun Rong of IG in a report. “There were also no new negative headlines of another bank or funds in trouble, which allows investors’ sentiments to settle down.” Investors had worried the Fed might respond to enduring upward pressure on prices by speeding up the pace of interest rate increases to dampen economic activity and inflation. But those jitters were overshadowed by anxiety about the U.S. financial system following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday and Signature Bank on Sunday. President Joe Biden and regulators tried to assure the public risks were contained and deposits in other banks were safe. Tuesday's data showed core inflation, with volatile energy and food prices stripped out to show a clearer trend, was 0.5% in February over the previous month, edging up from January's 0.4% gain. The Fed pays close attention to core inflation in making monetary policy. The Fed faces a dilemma over how to respond when banks already are under strain after the fastest pace of rate hikes in a decade knocked down prices of their assets. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.7% to 3,267.15 after Chinese economic activity improved in January and February but less than expected after anti-virus controls ended. Retail sales rose 3.5% over a year earlier, rebounding from December's 1.% contraction. Factory output rose 2.4%, up from 1.3%. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo advanced 0.1% to 27,258.01 after major Japanese companies announced they had agreed with unions to the biggest wage increases in almost two decades. Low wages are seen as a major drag on economic growth in Japan, but fewer than one in five Japanese workers belong to unions. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 1.3% to 19,490.35 and the Kospi in Seoul surged 1.5% to 2,384.38. India's Sensex opened up 0.2% at 58,297.50. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets advanced. Traders rushed Monday to place bets that the Fed could keep rates steady at its next meeting, instead of accelerating to a hike of 0.50 percentage points, double last month's margin, according to data from CME Group. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 1.7% to 3,920.56, reversing from a three-day string of declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1% to 32,155.40. The Nasdaq added 2.1% to 11,428.15. First Republic Bank jumped 27% after plunging 67.5% over the prior three days. KeyCorp gained 6.9%, Zions Bancorp. rose 4.5% and Charles Schwab climbed 9.2%. The yield on a two-year Treasury, or the difference between the market price and the payout at maturity, climbed back to 4.21% from 4.02% late Monday, another huge move. The yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped to 3.66% from 3.55%. In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.08 to $72.41 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract plunged $3.47 on Tuesday to $71.33. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, advanced $1.09 to $78.54 per barrel in London. It lost $3.32 the previous day to $77.45. The dollar declined to 134.09 yen from Tuesday's 134.19 yen. The euro rose to $1.0754 from $1.0741.

Asian stock markets gained Wednesday after Wall Street sank on weak U.S. housing sales and a profit warning by a prominent social media brand. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul advanced while Tokyo declined. Oil prices rose more than $1 per barrel to stay above $110. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.8% after the profit warning Tuesday by Snapchat’s parent company. Spooked investors dumped social media stocks. Construction stocks fell after U.S. home sales plunged in April. “The overall mood in equity markets remains largely downbeat,” Jun Rong Yeap of IG said in a report. The Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.8% to 3,094.88 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo shed less than 0.1% to 26,729.70. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.5% to 20,216.79. The Kospi in Seoul rose 0.8% to 2,626.90 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 added 0.7% to 7,177.80. India’s Sensex opened up less than 0.1% at 54,099.64. New Zealand, Singapore and Jakarta declined while Bangkok advanced. Also Read: Stock markets continue to fall on the third day Tuesday Investors are on edge about the impact of interest rate hikes in the United States and other Western economies to cool surging inflation, as well as Russia’s war on Ukraine and a Chinese economic slowdown. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve is due to give insight into its decision-making by releasing minutes of its latest policy meeting. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 on Tuesday fell to 3,941.48. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2% to 31,928.62. The S&P is down 18% from its Jan. 3 high, putting it on the brink of a bear market, or a 20% decline from the previous top. The Nasdaq composite, dominated by tech stocks, slide 2.3% to 11,264.45 after the social media selloff. Snap plummeted 43.1%, its biggest single-day drop ever. Facebook parent Meta slumped 7.6%. Google’s parent fell 5.1%. Retailers and companies that rely on direct consumer spending declined. Amazon slid 3.2% and Target fell 2.6%. The pullback undercut the previous day’s broad rally. Homebuilders slumped following a government report showing that April sales of newly built homes plunged 26.9% from a year earlier. KB Home fell 2.7%. Cruise lines and other travel-related companies took heavy losses. Carnival slid 10.3% and Norwegian Cruise Line fell 12%. In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.35 to $111.12 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 52 cents on Tuesday to $109.77. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, advanced $1.32 to $112.01 per barrel in London. It rose 14 cents the previous session to $113.56. The dollar gained to 126.99 yen from Tuesday’s 126.82 yen. The euro rose to $1.0709 from $1.0693.    

Shares declined in Europe and Asia on Thursday after a broad retreat on Wall Street triggered by worries over the impact of persistent high inflation on corporate profits and consumer spending. U.S. futures were lower, while oil prices advanced. Germany’s DAX lost 2% to 13,731.64 and the CAC 40 in Paris declined 1.9% to 6,234.78. Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 1.7% to 3,537.99. The future for the S&P 500 was 1% lower while the future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 0.9%. The Dow industrials sank more than 1,100 points, or 3.6% on Wednesday, and the S&P 500 had its biggest drop in nearly two years, shedding 4%. That was its steepest decline since June 2020. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 4.7%. The benchmark index is now down more than 18% from the record high it reached at the beginning of the year. That’s just shy of the 20% decline that’s considered a bear market. “The sentiment in the market is highly negative as traders and investors are largely concerned about an economic downturn and soaring inflation,” Naeem Aslam of Avatrade said in a commentary. The Federal Reserve is trying to temper the impact from the highest inflation in four decades by raising interest rates. Many other central banks are on a similar track. But the Bank of Japan has stuck to its low interest rate policy and the gap between those benchmark rates of the world’s largest and third-largest economies has pushed the dollar’s value up against the Japanese yen. Japan reported a trade deficit for April as its imports ballooned 28%. The shift reflects surging energy costs amid the war in Ukraine and a weakening of the yen against the U.S. dollar. Japan’s exports grew to 8.076 trillion yen ($63 billion) last month, up 12.5% from the previous year, according to Ministry of Finance data released Thursday. Imports totaled 8.915 trillion yen ($70 billion) in April, up from 6.953 trillion yen in April 2021, and the highest since comparable numbers began to be taken in 1979. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 1.9% to 26,402.84 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 2.5% to 20,120.60. In South Korea, the Kospi shed 1.3% to 2,592.34, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gave up 1.7% to 7,064.50. Also Read: Asian shares fall amid interest rate, earnings worries The Shanghai Composite index reversed earlier losses, gaining 0.4% to 3.096.96. On Wednesday, retailer Target lost a quarter of its value after reporting earnings that fell far short of analysts’ forecasts. Inflation, especially for shipping costs, dragged its operating margin for the first quarter to 5.3%. It had been expecting 8% or higher. The company warned that its costs for freight this year would be $1 billion higher than it estimated just three months ago. The report comes a day after Walmart said its profit took a hit from higher costs. The nation’s largest retailer fell 6.8%, adding to its losses from Tuesday.   Target and Walmart each provided anecdotal evidence that inflation is weighing on consumers, saying they held back on purchasing big-ticket items and changed from national brands to less expensive store brands. The weak reports stoked concerns that stubbornly rising inflation is putting a tighter squeeze on a wide range of businesses and could cut deeper into their profits. Other big retailers also have racked up hefty losses. The data are not entirely consistent. On Tuesday, the market cheered an encouraging report from the Commerce Department that showed retail sales rose in April, driven by higher sales of cars, electronics, and more spending at restaurants. Investors worry the Fed could trigger a recession if it raises interest rates too high or too quickly. Worries persist about global growth as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine puts even more pressure on prices for oil and food while lockdowns in China to stem COVID-19 cases worsens supply chain problems. In other trading, benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 56 cents to $110.15 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It dropped $2.81 to $109.59 on Wednesday. Brent crude, the basis for pricing for international trading, climbed $1.19 to $110.30 per barrel. The dollar fell to 128.14 Japanese yen from 128.20 yen late Wednesday. The euro strengthened to $1.0481 from $1.0464.