Asian stocks rise ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole speech

Asian equity markets moved higher on August 28 as investors positioned themselves ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s keynote address at the Kansas City Fed’s annual Jackson Hole symposium. Gains were recorded across Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Jakarta, and Taipei, though the mood was more careful anticipation than outright optimism. The market’s attention had just cycled through a moment of genuine excitement. Nvidia’s latest earnings report delivered numbers that were genuinely hard to argue with, but the sugar rush faded quickly, and traders refocused on the question that has been hanging over every major asset class for months: what does the Fed actually plan to do about inflation? What Warsh said, and why everyone was listening Warsh, who took the chair in May, has cultivated a notably more reserved communication style than his predecessors. That restraint has made markets hungrier for any signal, which meant his 10 a.m. Eastern address was scheduled to land with unusual weight for a speech that hadn’t even happened yet. The backdrop for that speech is uncomfortable by any reading. US inflation has now exceeded the Fed’s 2% target for 65 consecutive...