Investing.com - Asian markets were mixed in morning trade on Wednesday. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is heading to North Korea for another round of talks as the U.S. hopes to get Pyongyang to give up nuclear weapons, according to reports on Tuesday
The news came after U.S. President Donald Trump said he wanted to meet with the North Korean leader again soon. The two leaders had the first-ever summit in June.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell gave a speech in Boston on Tuesday and said he is confident that low unemployment would not force the U.S. central bank to hike rates aggressively.
“The rise in wages is broadly consistent with observed rates of price inflation and labor productivity growth and therefore does not point to an overheating labor market,” Powell said on Tuesday. “Further, higher wage growth alone need not be inflationary.”
Overnight, U.S.-listed retailers underperformed after Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) raised the minimum wage for all its employees. European shares also fell on worries of Italy’s budget confrontation and risk of a debt crisis in the EU.
Italian 10-year bond yield jumped to 4-1/2 year highs after EU officials expressed concerns about Italy’s budget plans.
"Budget details are still unavailable but the real anxiety surrounds the medium-term path of spending and debt. There is no evidence to suggest the sell-off has run its course," ANZ analysts said in a note to clients.
In Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component remained closed for holidays and will resume trade on October 8. South Korea’s KOSPI is also closed on Wednesday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.3% by 11:50AM ET (03:50 GMT). Tencent Music Entertainment Group received some attention as the online-music arm of Tencent Holdings Ltd (HK:0700) filed for an IPO in the U.S.
Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded 0.5% lower, while Australia’s ASX 200 inched up 0.3%.