By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were mostly up on Friday morning, clawing back some of the losses from the previous two days. This was due to tighter U.S. monetary policies.

Japan’s jumped 2.04% by 9:01 PM ET (2:01 AM GMT). The grew 0.2% in January, according to data released earlier today.

South Korea’s was up 0.79%.

The Australian producer price index rose 1.3% to 3.7%, while the rose 1.53% in Australia. The, expected to be released in the week that follows, is also anticipated by investors.

Hong Kong’s fell 0.79%. On Thursday, the city reduced the quarantine period to allow arrivals from 21 days to 14 days. However, it extended existing social distancing measures up until February 17.

China’s was down 0.44% while the rose 0.81%.

Overall, movements in Asia were subdued ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

U.S shares also rallied on Thursday, boosted by  Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:) earnings. They ended the volatile session with a lower close after failing again to sustain intraday gains. The yield curve was flatter and U.S. Treasuries remained steady.

Investors still digest Wednesday’s. Money markets are now pricing in as many as five Fed hikes in 2022 in line with the U.S. central bank’s hawkish tone, up from the three expected as recently as December 2021.

The market is now more volatile due to uncertainty surrounding the Fed’s COVID-19-era stimulus. Since January, the global share market has lost $7 trillion.

“Really what we are seeing is historic intraday volatility… it’s been a pretty amazing ride so far this year,” Susquehanna International Group co-head of derivatives strategy Chris Murphy told Bloomberg.

According to U.S. data released Thursday, it grew by 6.9% quarter on quarter in the fourth quarter 2021. In December, it grew 0.4% monthly, and 260,000 Americans have filed over the last week.

The December month-on-30 change was 3.8%.

Additional data such as the and the Michigan consumer indexes (January) are expected to be available later today.