Asia markets to trade mixed as inflation report shadowed by Fed expecting a U.S. recession

Futures in the Asia-Pacific pointed to a mixed session on Thursday after minutes from the March Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed that Fed officials see the U.S. economy entering a recession from the banking crisis fallout.

The meeting summary said: “Given their assessment of the potential economic effects of the recent banking-sector developments, the staff’s projection at the time of the March meeting included a mild recession starting later this year, with a recovery over the subsequent two years.”

Comments from the Fed erased earlier gains seen on Wall Street after the release of the U.S. consumer price index report that showed inflation cooled in March.

The CPI rose 0.1% for the month against a Dow Jones estimate for 0.2%, and 5% from a year ago versus the estimate of 5.1%. Excluding food and energy, the core CPI rose 0.4% and 5.6% on an annual basis.

Stocks in Japan are set to fall, with the Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 27,960 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 27,900 against the Nikkei 225’s last close at 28,082.7.

In Australia, futures pointed to a higher open at 7,357 compared against the S&P/ASX 200‘s last close at 7,343.9 ahead of its unemployment rate report. Futures tied to the Hang Seng index also pointed to a lower open as investors await China’s trade data.

Overnight on Wall Street, stocks ended lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average snapped a four-day win streak, erasing earlier gains following the U.S. inflation report and shed 0.11%. The S&P 500 declined 0.41% and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.85%.