Asia-Pacific stock markets mostly strengthened in trading on Thursday\n(20\/8\/2026), following the recovery of the main Wall Street indices\nafter long-tenor United States (US) government bond yields fell from\ntheir highest levels in recent years.<\/p>\n
Citing CNBC.com, market sentiment was also influenced by the US\ngovernment\u2019s plan to increase buybacks of long-term debt to ease\npressure from the sell-off in the bond market.<\/p>\n
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index strengthened 0.66%, while the Topix\nindex rose 0.57% in Thursday trading. Gains also occurred in South Korea\nwith the Kospi index surging 3.11%, while the small-cap Kosdaq stock\nindex rose 2.26%.<\/p>\n
The Australian stock market also moved in positive territory with the\nbenchmark S&P\/ASX 200 index strengthening 0.59%. The positive\nmovement in Asian markets came after the S&P 500 index previously\nmanaged to halt a three-session losing streak.<\/p>\n
The S&P 500\u2019s recovery occurred as long-tenor US government bond\nyields began to fall from their highest levels in recent years. The US\ngovernment announced measures to ease market pressure after the recent\nbond sell-off drove a sharp rise in yields.<\/p>\n
The US Treasury Department said it would increase buybacks of\n10-year, 20-year, and 30-year debt securities to more than double in the\ncoming months.<\/p>\n
The policy was announced after the yield on 30-year US government\nbonds earlier this week surged to its highest level in nearly two\ndecades.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, former Wells Fargo Head of Macro Michael Schumacher\nassessed that the easing of pressure in the bond market is unlikely to\nlast long. He remains negative and expects long-term interest rates in\nthe US to rise again.<\/p>\n
According to Schumacher, one of the main factors that could drive\nlong-term interest rates higher is the large US government budget\ndeficit, which has shown no signs of improving.<\/p>\n
In addition, increased defence spending is also expected to add\npressure, especially after the conflict in Iran reinforced the need for\ngovernment expenditure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the US case in particular, there is a very large budget deficit\nand not many signs that it will improve,\u201d Schumacher said in an\ninterview with CNBC.<\/p>\n
He added that the pressure actually already existed before the\nconflict in Iran and has now increased further.<\/p>\n
Ahead of Thursday trading on Wall Street, investors will next\nscrutinise the release of US weekly jobless claims data. Economists\nsurveyed by Dow Jones expect initial jobless claims for the week ending\n15 August to reach 210,000.<\/p>\n
In addition to employment data, the market will also await Walmart\u2019s\nfinancial performance report for the second fiscal quarter, scheduled\nfor release before the market opens. The retail company\u2019s performance\nwill be one of investors\u2019 concerns in gauging the state of consumer\nspending in the US.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asian-markets-rise-tracking-wall-street-1787190666", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }