Asia stocks were mixed Thursday after a U.S. inflation print intensified calls for interest-rate increases as soon as March. Shares fluctuated in Hong Kong where a gauge of Chinese technology stocks fell after its biggest jump in three months.
Japan declined. Chinese developers retreated as some of the property sector’s more indebted firms face a wave of key payments this week. U.S. futures turned red after the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 ended higher Wednesday.
The U.S. consumer price index climbed at the fastest pace since 1982, in line with forecasts.
The U.S. inflation read came after Fed Chair Jerome Powell vowed to contain the worst price pressures in four decades without derailing the economic recovery from the pandemic.
