Shares in Asia fell Thursday following muted moves on Wall Street after Federal Reserve meeting minutes signaled that it’s in no rush to cut interest rates.

Stocks in Japan and Australia dropped while equity index futures for Hong Kong also drifted lower. Contracts for US stocks also slipped in early Asian trading after the S&P 500 climbed 0.2% on Wednesday to set a new high, with defensive sectors outperforming in a sign of investor caution. The yen extended its rally against the greenback on Thursday to trade around 151 per dollar.

Fed minutes showed policymakers in January expressed a readiness to hold interest rates steady amid stubborn inflation and economic-policy uncertainty. Officials also revealed pausing or slowing the balance-sheet runoff — a process known as quantitative tightening, or QT, until the government’s debt-ceiling drama is resolved.

“They will sit and wait before cutting again,” said Peter Boockvar, author of The Boock Report. “I say ‘cut’ because it still seems like they have an easing bias. The Fed also commented on the balance sheet. This could also be a reason why yields dipped a bit.”

Financial markets appeared unphased by comments from President Donald Trump late on Wednesday in the US, which touched on efforts to cut government spending and further work to be done on tariffs. He also touted the Nasdaq, Dow Jones and Bitcoin gains in the last few months. 

Bitcoin was a popular so-called Trump trade and soared to a record high in the months following November’s US election but has since fallen around 10% from a peak in January.

In Asia, data set for release Thursday includes export orders for Taiwan, inflation for Hong Kong and China one-year and five-year loan prime rates. Separate one-year medium-term lending facility data for China may be released anytime through February 25.

The latest China data will come after the country recorded the weakest start for inbound investment in four years, with just over $13 billion in new spending by foreign firms in the country in January.

Investors will also be focused on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which faces a key test in its earnings presentation Thursday after a DeepSeek-sparked rally added more than $110 billion to its market value.

Elsewhere in the region, Rio Tinto Group posted a slide in annual profit, while Fortescue Ltd. reported a 53% drop in first-half profit, reflecting a decline in iron ore prices as Chinese demand has weakened.

In US trading Wednesday, quantum-computing shares jumped on Microsoft Corp.’s new chip. Homebuilders got hit after results from Toll Brothers Inc. and key construction data indicated the residential real estate market may be in store for more turbulence. 

US economic data released Wednesday showed housing starts slowed in January as builders pulled back on single- and multifamily home construction amid growing worries over mortgage rates and unsold homes.

Treasuries were steady in early Asian trading after gains in the prior session. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed after rising 0.2% Wednesday. 

Oil prices rose Wednesday against the backdrop of uncertainties about crude supplies from Russia, Kazakhstan and OPEC+. Meanwhile, gold held just below an all-time high as mounting geopolitical tension underscored the metal’s haven appeal.

Key events this week:

  • China loan prime rates, Thursday

  • Eurozone consumer confidence, Thursday

  • US initial jobless claims, Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index, Thursday

  • Fed’s Austan Goolsbee and Alberto Musalem speak, Thursday

  • Eurozone HCOB manufacturing & services PMI, Friday

  • US S&P Global manufacturing & services PMI, existing home sales, consumer sentiment, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

  • S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 8:18 a.m. Tokyo time

  • Hang Seng futures fell 0.8%

  • Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.7%

Currencies

  • The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%

  • The euro was little changed at $1.0425

  • The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 151.26 per dollar

  • The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.2822 per dollar

  • The Australian dollar was unchanged at $0.6344

Cryptocurrencies

  • Bitcoin rose 0.4% to $96,746.84

  • Ether rose 0.5% to $2,723.08

Bonds

  • Australia’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.51%

Commodities

  • West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed

  • Spot gold was little changed

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