By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were mixed on Thursday morning, with investors assured that the will tackle inflation without derailing the economic recovery from COVID-19.

Japan’s jumped 1.53% by 9:17 PM ET (2:17 AM GMT) and South Korea’s gained 0.44%.

The Australian fell by 0.53%. Thursday’s employment data showed that the was at 366,100 and the at 128,300, while the was 4.6%, in November.

Hong Kong’s fell 0.58%. Chinese businesses listed in the U.S. saw shares fall to the lowest levels since March 2020. With the U.S. expected to place more sanctions on exports and investments, the U.S. may increase its pressure to punish even more of these companies.

China’s gained 0.46% while the edged down 0.10%.

It said Wednesday that the Fed would double its asset-tapering program’s pace to $30 Billion per month. While the central bank maintained its 25 percent interest rate, it projected that there would be three quarter-point increases to interest rates in 2022 and 2023. There will also be three more interest-rate hikes in 2023. Two additional interest rate rises are planned for 2024.

Although the policy decision lifted some uncertainty about the Fed’s response, some warned that it could take time for the full picture to emerge.

“The initial market reaction does not always stick, but we suspect that both the Fed and investors are satisfied that the Fed is aware of and responding to inflation risks, while taking a measured, data-dependent approach in responding,” Standard Chartered Bank head of global G10 FX research Steve Englander said in a note.

With the breakeven rate of U.S. Treasury inflation protected securities at 2.8%, there are still challenges for the Fed to bring inflation down below its target of 2%. Others, however, remain positive.

“If there is a story here, it’s that the Fed is moving forward but they are not going to do anything rash to kill this market move forward that we’ve had over the last year. They are not looking to disrupt the kind of environment that we’ve had and that’s good news for markets,” Credit Suisse Group AG chief U.S. equity strategist Jonathan Golub told Bloomberg.

Investors are now awaiting the policy decision of the and later that day. It will announce its decision Friday.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of European Commission, predicted that the COVID-19 omicron virus will be Europe’s dominant coronavirus type by mid-January 2022.