ASX futures were 13 points or 0.2 per cent lower at 7019 as of 7.00am AEST, suggesting a weaker start.

U.S. stocks trimmed their losses as investors sifted through another round of earnings from retailers and read minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting for clues to future interest-rate moves.

The biggest indexes pared their losses when investors saw a dovish hawk in the Fed’s jottings. As of 4 p.m. Eastern time, the S&P 500 was 0.7 percent lower, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5 percent and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3 percent.

“Today is very much, in a microcosm, telling you just how closely the market is tracking for any sign of what the Fed is likely to do next,” said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors. Upon the release of the minutes, “everybody came to the other side of the boat. That tells you what the market is concentrating on at the moment,” Mr. Baird said.

In commodities, Brent crude oil rose 1.1% to US$93.35, and gold fell 0.7% to US$1,763.79.

Domestically, the Australian 2Y bond yield inched up to 2.74% and the 10Y ticked higher to 3.27%. Across the globe, the yield on 2 Year US Treasury notes was at 3.28% and the yield on 10 Year US Treasury notes reached 2.90%.

It's been trading lower today with the Australian dollar at 69.33 US cents at the noon (AEDT) close, compared with 70.23 cents at the close on Tuesday. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against 16 other currencies, was down 0.2 percent at 98.34.

Asia

Chinese shares rebounded as sentiment improved on hopes that the government would unveil further support for the slumping economy. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has vowed more fiscal help through government-bond issuance and has demanded that local officials in six provinces take further pro-growth steps, according to reports in several news outlets. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4% to 3292.53, the Shenzhen Composite Index edged up 0.7% to 2242.45 and the ChiNext Price Index gained 1.7% to 2777.91. Bank stocks were higher. China Construction Bank gained 0.5%, Agricultural Bank of China advanced 0.4% and Bank of China added 0.3%.

Singapore's FTSE Straits Times Index ended up 0.3% at 3262.76 on the coattails of advances on most of Wall Street. The FOMC July meeting minutes will be closely watched by investors for clues on the direction of U.S. policymakers, says IG analyst Jun Rong Yeap in a note. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Singapore Government Bond (10Y SGS) climbed 1 basis point to 2.374%. The 10-year Singapore government bond yield rose by 1bp to 2.374 percent and traded in a 2.364 to 2.374 percent range. The growth in Singapore's non-oil domestic exports in July was also positively surprising for the market, the analyst said. Jardine Cycle & Carriage and Wilmar International were among the gainers, rising 3.0% and 2.0%, respectively. Among the decliners were Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust, which lost 1.4%.

The Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.2% to 29222.77, closing above the 29000 mark for the first time since Jan. 5, as concerns about the costs of fuel and other raw materials ebbed. Big-cap winners also included Sony Group, up 3.1% and Toyota Motor, higher by 2.9%. Investors focused on macroeconomic data, U.S. retail sales that later in the day and their policy implications. The U.S. dollar last bought 134.46 Japanese yen, up from 134.22 late Tuesday in New York. The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond jumped 1.5 basis points, to 0.180 percent.

Europe

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 has fallen 4.04 points, or 0.91%, to 439.03, the German DAX has declined 283.41 points, or 2.04%, to 13626.71, and the French CAC 40 has slid 64.26 points, or 0.97%, to 6528.32.

The FTSE 100 in London fell 0.27 percent on Wednesday, trimming gains in stocks, which have been hit in recent sessions by new inflation fears. “The market witnessed a case of profit-taking beginning to sneak back in after a rally over the past few sessions, although thus far relatively orderly,” says Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group PLC.

“U.K. CPI and ongoing worry about Europe’s seemingly-inevitable winter energy crunch have provided the context for the risk-off move, undercutting some of the optimism about the months ahead and instead worrying about recessions in both the U.K. and the rest of Europe,” says Mr. Beauchamp.

Consumer prices were 10.1 percent higher in July than the previous year, up from 9.4 percent in June, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday. Investors sold U.K. government bonds, a sign that they expect the Bank of England will have to push interest rates higher to control inflation.

North America

Stocks have staged a furious recovery in recent weeks as investors recalculated their belief that persistently high inflation, rising interest rates and an imminent economic slowdown were making corporate shares a bad bet. As of Tuesday, the S&P had surged 17% from its June trough, as investors rebalanced portfolios and rushed to cover bearish bets.

That has been feeding optimism, along with some strong earnings reports last week and data that indicated that U.S. inflation was running at a reduced rate. Shares of Lowe’s rose 0.6 percent as of 4 p.m. Wednesday after it reported quarterly earnings that topped analysts’ expectations, following strong results on Tuesday from Walmart and Home Depot. New retail-sales figures revealed that when excluding the plummeting gasoline prices it was consumer spending that ticked up last month in a sign of economic resilience.

Yet investors are struggling over whether the recent rally is more than a temporary about-face from the stocks’ miserable first half of the year or whether it’s doomed to peter out.

The Fed is likely to continue to increase rates with inflation still a significant worry, though investors are grappling with how fast and how long. Traders have been in a bind between, on the one hand, comments from officials at the Fed that suggest they are likely to raise rates into next year and, on the other, market-based forecasts that predict the central bank will take a pause in the cycle of rate hikes or even reverse it.

A record of the central bank’s July 30-31 meeting released on Wednesday showed the Fed’s key concern is that it might reflexively raise rates too much to tame inflation. But in the notes, central bankers also considered whether they might lift borrowing costs more than was strictly necessary, causing unnecessary economic weakness. The minutes moved stocks sharply off midday levels and sent government-bond yields, which are sensitive to interest-rate expectations, lower.

Earnings from Target on Wednesday offered a murky picture of the American consumer. Target’s profit plunged, and the company said it had seen customers slashing spending on nonessential items. Even so, revenue climbed thanks to strong sales of food and beverage, beauty and household items, and a greater number of visits by shoppers. Its stock was down 2.8% at 4 p.m.

Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond rose 12 percent in volatile trading as individual investors piled into the stock, with some seeking to create an even larger rally and punish professionals who have bet against it.