Overnight

Excuses be damned. that's becoming the scene among investors especially in Asia it's becoming more apparent that the Fed is running out of them to keep from hiking interest rares as Asian shared were widely lower overnight.

Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average traded 0.9% lower, while Korea’s Kospi fell 0.2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 1.1%. According to the Wall Street Journal, “People are starting to wake up that the hike is coming,” said Hao Hong, head of research at Bocom International. “The Fed is running out of excuses not to hike.” The CME Fed Funds futures showed the market’s expectations of a rate increase in December rose to 74.5% from 69.5% a day earlier. In Australia the strength of the U.S. dollar took its toll as the S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.3% amid weaker commodities prices, thanks to the recent dollar strength.

The overnight downturn backed off of a five-week after weak Wall Street earnings  and Japanese investors look to Japan Inc.'s reporting season. Exporters softened as defensive stocks like real estate and construction among others moved up. The broader Topix shed 0.3 percent to 1,351.96 and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 declined 0.3 percent to 12,105.24. The Shanghai Composite was off -8.96 to 3056.  In Thailand, the stock market hit its lowest level in a month, but investor sentiment in China has improved this week, the Journal noted, in part because of tighter rules to curb speculative housing purchases, a move that some say could help divert funds back to the equities market.

In currencies, China fixed the yuan 0.2% weaker against the U.S. dollar Wednesday, setting the currency at its weakest level since Sept. 15, 2010, according Thomson Reuters data. This was the third consecutive day of a weaker yuan fixing after China’s week long holiday, and the move followed broad dollar strength in the New York session on the back of heightened expectations for a rate increase this year.

As one agency reported, U.S. crude futures gained 0.24 percent to $50.91 a barrel, above its U.S. settlement price of $50.79, while Brent was up 0.38 percent at $52.61. The global oil benchmark settled at $52. Despite the higher crude prices, shares in Asian oil majors were negative. Australia's Santos was down 2.66 percent, while Oil Search shed 1.7 percent, Japan's Inpex was down 0.48 percent, while South Korea's S-Oil was lower by 2.52 percent and China Petroleum was down 0.8 percent. The stronger also hit gold and silver prices. Gold was at $1254.70 an ounce.