Hong Kong stocks tumble 3%, Asia markets dip after Fed minutes point to more rate hikes

Australia’s trade surplus for June came in at 11.79 billion Australian dollars in May, higher than the AU$11.15 billion recorded in April.

The figure also beat expectations of economists polled by Reuters, who expected the surplus to decline to AU$10.5 billion.

Government data showed that imports of goods and services into Australia increased by 2.5% month on month in May, while exports climbed 4.4%.

— Lim Hui Jie

Shares of electronics manufacturer Foxconn fell 0.92% after the company posted a 14% drop in sales for the second quarter, compared to the the same period a year ago

Sales for Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, came in at 1.3 billion New Taiwan dollars ($41.76 billion) in the second quarter.

However, the company is more optimistic about the year ahead, saying that “with the second half of the year peak season currently underway, operations will gradually ramp up.”

Third quarter sales are expected to increase at a compared to the second quarter, and Foxconn said that when compared to the pre-pandemic period, the growth rate is expected to be approximately on par.

Malaysia’s central bank is expected to hold its benchmark overnight policy rate steady at 3%, economists polled by Reuters showed.

Bank Negara Malaysia previously raised its rates by 25 basis points from 2.75% in its May policy meeting.

The economy’s consumer price index rose at a slower-than-expected pace of 2.8% in June after peaking near 5% in August last year.

— Jihye Lee

Investors have become “too complacent” in the calm before a potential storm for stock markets, according to Deutsche Bank’s Maximilian Uleer.

Uleer, head of European equity and cross-asset strategy at the multinational German lender, said the historically low levels of volatility was a key concern since it signaled rising complacency within the market.

The strategist also named two ways investors could “cheaply” insulate themselves from a potential downturn.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

Here are the top performing, actively managed equity funds in the first half of the year, according to data from Morningstar.

CNBC Pro also highlighted the stocks most commonly in the top holdings of these funds, with potential upsides and buy ratings, according to FactSet.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

The Federal Reserve expects to raise rates further from current levels, albeit at a slower-than-expected pace, a summary from the central bank’s June meeting showed.

“Many [officials] also noted that, after rapidly tightening the stance of monetary policy last year, the Committee had slowed the pace of tightening and that a further moderation in the pace of policy firming was appropriate in order to provide additional time to observe the effects of cumulative tightening and assess their implications for policy,” the minutes said.

— Fred Imbert, Jeff Cox

The odds that Federal Reserve policymakers will raise their benchmark overnight lending rate another quarter point, to 5.25%-5.50%, at their next meeting on July 26 climbed even closer to a sure thing following the release Wednesday of the minutes from their June meeting, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

As of mid-afternoon Wednesday, the probability the Fed will go in July climbed to 88.7%, up from 81.8% a week ago,  according to interest rate traders. The odds that rates will be left unchanged fell to 11.3% from 18.2% last week.

Almost three quarters, or 73.2%, of interest rate traders think the fed funds rate will stand at 5.25%-5.50% by the conclusion of the September 20 Federal Open Market Committee meeting, up from 69.1% last week. Odds that rates will stand a half point higher, at 5.50%-5.75%, by the end of the September meeting are now 17.7%, little changed from 16.4% a week ago.

— Scott Schnipper

Federal Reserve officials still have a recession as the most likely base case for the U.S. economy, but there was growing optimism at the last meeting that a true “soft landing” could be achieved.

“Given the continued strength in labor market conditions and the resilience of consumer spending, however, the staff saw the possibility of the economy continuing to grow slowly and avoiding a downturn as almost as likely as the mild-recession baseline,” the minutes said.

— Jesse Pound