Traders now see a little better than 2-in-3 odds that the Fed cuts rates by March
Asian stocks wobbled on Friday, keeping global equities on track to snap a nine-week winning streak, while the dollar was poised for its strongest weekly advance since mid-July as bets on aggressive Federal Reserve rate cuts were rolled back.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1% in the Asian morning, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipping 0.18%.
The MSCI world index was about flat so far on the day, but heading for a 1.7% decline this week.
Japan’s Nikkei was something of an outlier, bouncing 0.5% on Friday as exporters got a boost from the yen’s slide back to just shy of 145 per dollar amid a rise in US Treasury yields.
The US dollar index, which measures the currency against a basket of six major peers including the yen, hovered around 102.39, not far from…
