Asian Shares Mixed as Traders Look to Jackson Hole

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index lost 0.8 percent. London’s FTSE 100 was up 1.3 points at 6,860.31.

The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 3 points, or 0.02 percent, to 18,557 as of 11:05 a.m.

Amid conflicting signals from the Fed in recent days, central bankers from around the world will gather from August 25 for an annual meeting in the mountains of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with Yellen due to speak the following day.

Minutes from the Fed’s latest rate-setting meeting will be released on Wednesday, and these could affect market odds, as could a speech from Janet Yellen, the Fed chair, who speaks on Friday next week at the central bank’s symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. “With markets pricing nearly even odds for another Fed hike this year, and given the retreat in the dollar and the rally in risky and emerging markets, this allows investors to once again ponder their portfolio exposure in the backdrop of subtle shifts in Fed messaging”.

Wall Street opened lower on Monday as oil prices dropped the most in four weeks and investors weighed the prospects of an interest rate hike in the coming months. Benchmark U.S. crude shed $1.32 to $47.20 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price worldwide oils, tumbled 93 cents to $49.95 per barrel in London.

Syngenta’s US -listed shares rose almost 10.5 percent after a USA national security panel cleared ChemChina’s $43 billion takeover of the Swiss pesticides and seeds group.

Some key USA economic data due this week, including reports on manufacturing, durable goods orders, new and existing home sales and the second estimate of June quarter GDP may also offer fresh clues on whether the world’s largest economy is strong enough to absorb another rate increase this year.

DRUG DEAL: Cancer drug maker Medivation jumped $13.34, or 20 percent, to $80.49 after pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced it would buy the company for $14 billion, or $81.50 a share. Pfizer, which has a market capitalisation of $212 billion, would pay about a one-third premium to the drugmaker’s Friday closing price of $67.16. Medivation Inc.’s stock soared more than 19 percent before the opening bell Monday.

The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 13.34 points, or 0.25 percent, at 5,225.03. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.3 percent to 22,997.91 and Seoul’s Kospi advanced 0.9 percent to 2,017.94. India’s Sensex lost 0.1 percent to 28,036.76 and Taiwan also declined.

Tokyo shares opened higher on Monday as the yen depreciated slightly against the USA dollars in the morning following upbeat assessment of the U.S. economy by the Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer.