Asian stocks retreat on lack of direction from Fed, pandemic

By ANNABELLE LIANG
Associated Press

SINGAPORE (AP) — Asian stock markets are retreating after U.S. central bank policymakers made no firm decision on when to unwind their support measures for the economy. This follows broad losses on Wall Street. Tokyo slipped 0.7% and Hong Kong was down 1.6% on Thursday. Benchmarks in Shanghai, South Korea and Sydney tumbled. Minutes of a Federal Reserve meeting fueled worries over surging coronavirus infections caused by the delta variant, and the pandemic’s impact on consumer spending and jobs growth. Stocks fell broadly on Wall Street, where technology, health care, financial and industrial companies were the biggest losers.