GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia stocks slip after Fed tempers aggressive rate cut expectations

* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
* Fed's Powell, Bullard temper July rate cut expectations
* Dollar crawls up from 3-month lows on Fed officials'
comments

By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO, June 26 (Reuters) - Asian stocks slipped on Wednesday
and the dollar pulled back from three-month lows after Federal
Reserve officials tempered expectations in the markets for
aggressive monetary easing.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday said the central bank is
"insulated from short-term political pressures," pushing back
against U.S. President Donald Trump's demand for a significant
rate cut. Powell, however, said Fed policymakers are wrestling
with whether uncertainties around U.S. tariffs, Washington's
conflict with trading partners and tame inflation require a rate
cut. Separately, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard told
Bloomberg Television he does not think the U.S. economy is dire
enough to warrant a 50-basis-point cut in July, even though he
pushed to lower rates last week. Equity markets have rallied this month, with Wall Street
shares advancing to record highs, after the Fed was seen to have
opened the door to possible rate cuts as early as next month at
is policy-setting meeting last week.
According to CME Group's FedWatch program, federal funds
futures implied that traders saw a 27% chance of the Fed
lowering rates by half a percentage point in July, compared to
42% on Monday.
Trump said on Twitter on Monday that the Fed "doesn't know
what it is doing," adding that it "raised rates far too fast"
and "blew it" given low inflation and slowing global growth.

Tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, Australian stocks
.AXJO dipped 0.15%, South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 shed 0.1% and
Japan's Nikkei .N225 retreated 0.6%.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS was a shade lower.
"While Powell's comments do not alter expectations that the
Fed will ease sooner or later, they do leave a slightly negative
impact on equities," said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist
at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management.
"The focus is now on the G20 summit. Market expectations for
a meaningful breakthrough being achieved in U.S.-China trade
talks are quite low, so any signs of an improvement could bode
well for risk sentiment."
The United States hopes to re-launch trade talks with
Beijing after Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping meet
in Japan during the G20 summit on Saturday but Washington will
not accept any conditions on tariffs, a senior administration
official said on Tuesday. The two sides could agree not to impose new tariffs as a
goodwill gesture to get negotiations going, the official said,
but it was unclear if that would happen.
The dollar index .DXY against a basket of six major
currencies stood at 96.177, holding to modest gains made the
previous day.
The index had bounced back from 95.843 on Tuesday, its
lowest level since March 21, following comments from the top Fed
officials.
The dollar was steady at 107.160 yen JPY= after a rebound
from a near six-month low of 106.780.
The greenback had sunk to the six-month trough as the yen, a
perceived safe haven, had drawn bids in the face brewing
U.S.-Iran tensions.
The euro EUR= was little changed at $1.1368 after being
nudged off a three-month peak of $1.1412.
U.S. crude oil futures CLc1 edged up to a four-week high
of $58.87 per barrel after data showed a decline in U.S. crude
stocks. O/R
Spot gold XAU= slipped from a six-year high of $1,438.63
an ounce after the comments from Fed officials trimmed
expectations for a rate hike in July. Gold last traded at
$1,418.18 an ounce.

(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)