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Investors look to TSMC, Netflix ( NFLX ) earnings later in the day

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Asia shares muted, futures mixed

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Trump says not planning to fire Powell

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JGB yields rise ahead of Sunday's upper house election

By Rae Wee

SINGAPORE, July 17 (Reuters) - Asian stocks dithered on

Thursday ahead of earnings from heavyweight technology companies

and as market anxiety lingered over the uncertain tenure of

Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell.

TSMC, the world's main producer of advanced AI

chips, is expected to post a jump in second-quarter profit to

record levels, though U.S. tariffs and a strong Taiwan dollar

could weigh on its outlook. Profits for streaming giant Netflix ( NFLX )

, due later on Thursday, are also on investors' radar.

"With Netflix ( NFLX ) having outperformed the S&P 500 year-to-date

by a sizeable 33 percentage points, and the street fully

subscribed to the bullish investment case, Netflix ( NFLX ) will need to

blow the lights out with a solid beat and raise," said Chris

Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan

was up just 0.06% and the Nikkei slipped

0.24%.

Canadian retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard ( ANCTF ) said on

Wednesday it was withdrawing its $47 billion takeover bid for

Seven & i Holdings ( SVNDF ), citing a lack of constructive

engagement by the Japanese retailer.

Shares of Seven & i Holdings ( SVNDF ) fell 9%.

European futures jumped as EUROSTOXX 50 futures

rose 0.56% and FTSE and DAX futures added about

0.4% each.

Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures fell 0.1%

each.

Also dominating the market mood was confusion over Fed Chair

Powell's future at the central bank, after initial news that

U.S. President Donald Trump was likely to fire Powell soon sent

stocks and the dollar sliding.

Trump was quick to deny the reports, restoring some calm to

volatile markets, but he kept the door open to the possibility

and renewed his criticism of the central bank chief for not

lowering interest rates.

"I think the most likely outcome is for Powell to stay on

until the end of his term next year. Having said that, this is

not the first time, so there are going to be episodes of

volatility in the dollar as a result of political noise," said

Carlos Casanova, UBP's senior economist for Asia.

The dollar was on a fragile footing on Thursday, after

having lost ground overnight on worries that the Fed's

independence could come under threat.

The euro was last down 0.17% at $1.1620 while

sterling eased 0.13% to $1.3400 after both currencies

made gains in the previous session.

The dollar was little changed at 98.49 against a

basket of currencies, having lost 0.33% overnight.

U.S. Treasury yields also steadied after falling on

Wednesday, due to expectations that Powell's removal could lead

to quicker and deeper rate cuts, with the two-year yield

last at 3.9022%.

The benchmark 10-year yield was little changed

at 4.4673%.

In Japan, yields on government bonds rose on Thursday as

investors extended a selloff driven by fiscal concerns ahead of

a closely watched upper house election on Sunday. Bond yields

move inversely to prices.

"Regardless of the outcome of the election, we are going to

see additional fiscal spending coming out of Japan," said UBP's

Casanova.

Elsewhere, oil prices rose on Thursday, with Brent crude

futures up 0.47% at $68.84 a barrel. U.S. crude futures

gained 0.62% to $66.79.

Spot gold dipped 0.15% to $3,341.29 an ounce.