Asia Stocks Make Best Start Versus US This Century: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Asian equities advanced for a fifth day, stretching their lead over US peers this year as relatively cheaper valuations and firmer growth prospects lured buyers. Treasuries held their losses after stronger US jobs data.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.6% to a record. The gauge is up about 13% so far this year, its best start to the year relative to the S&P 500 this century. The US gauge is up just 1.4%, ranking 69th among the 92 indexes tracked by Bloomberg. South Korea is the world’s best-performing market with a 30% surge.
Equity-index futures signaled that Asia’s gains Thursday were set to carry over to Europe and the US.
Treasuries continued to trade lower with the yield on the 10-year at 4.18% as traders pared bets on interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year following the jobs data. Money markets priced in the Fed’s next cut in July, from June previously, after the US economy added 130,000 roles in January, twice the forecast.
In what is shaping up to be another blockbuster year, Asia’s markets are outpacing peers in the US and Europe, drawing global investors who have gradually unwound some of their dollar exposures. Investors are positioning for beneficiaries of the artificial-intelligence boom as companies channel billions of dollars into the technology, reshaping and disrupting multiple industries.
“That is what 2026 will be about: diversification across regions but also across sectors,” Elfreda Jonker, client portfolio manager at Alphinity Investment Management, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
Much of the focus on Wednesday was on the US jobs data, which indicated strength in the economy. The next key hurdle for markets is Friday’s inflation report, which could reinforce the case for keeping rates higher for longer if price pressures fail to ease.
The S&P 500 ended Wednesday flat after a bumpy session with real estate services stocks getting hit in the latest “AI scare trade.” The US benchmark trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of about 22 times, compared with about 15 times for the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.
Read: Booming Asian Markets Widen Their Lead Over US and Europe
Other gauges are also outpacing the S&P 500. The MSCI Emerging Markets Latin America Index has gained 21% gain year to date, while the MSCI Emerging Markets Index is up 11%.
Asia’s strength stands out when investors’ convictions in everything from tech stocks to precious metals and cryptocurrencies are being tested by shifting expectations for US interest rates and uncertainty over AI-driven disruption.
Asia is winning favor with investors as the global tech race is shifting from AI pioneers to the enablers of large-scale adoption. Regional firms control critical choke points — from advanced chips and memory to foundry services and assembly — supplying much of the hardware underpinning the AI build-out.
“We’re seeing value begin to really shift across the value chain,” Stephanie Aliaga, a global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “That’s how markets are reacting. you see this rotation away from the biggest spenders towards the beneficiaries.”
In other corners of the market, Bitcoin slid to trade around $67,100, while the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index erased earlier losses to rise 0.1%. Japan’s super-long bonds extended their post-election rally as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s historic election win soothed investor concerns about fiscal policy.
Oil rose as tensions in the Middle East outweighed concerns that there’s a supply glut growing. Nickel extended gains after Indonesia signaled a sharp cut to output this year. Gold dipped after robust US jobs data reduced expectations for a Fed rate cut.
Elsewhere, President Donald Trump’s tariff policies suffered their strongest political blow yet with the Republican-led US House passing legislation aimed at ending the president’s levies on Canadian imports.
Corporate Highlights:
Siemens AG raised its outlook after demand for factory automation and electrification products boosted returns to help cushion negative currency effects. Cisco Systems Inc. gave a weaker-than-expected forecast for profitability in the current quarter, spurring concerns that mounting memory-chip prices are taking a toll on the company. Mercedes-Benz Group AG expects margins to remain under pressure this year as it grapples with tariffs and fierce competition in China. McDonald’s Corp.’s US sales grew at the fastest pace in more than two years in the fourth quarter as value meals continued to resonate with cost-conscious diners. Apple Inc.’s long-planned upgrade to the Siri virtual assistant has run into snags during testing in recent weeks, potentially pushing back the release of several highly anticipated functions. Lenovo Group Ltd. reported better-than-expected sales, helped by consumers buying PCs ahead of anticipated memory chip price hikes as well as strong momentum for its AI servers. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% as of 6:51 a.m. London time Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.6% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9% The Shanghai Composite was little changed Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.7% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1863 The Japanese yen was little changed at 153.27 per dollar The offshore yuan rose 0.1% to 6.9009 per dollar The British pound was little changed at $1.3617 Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 1% to $67,074.1 Ether was little changed at $1,970.57 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.18% Japan’s 10-year yield was unchanged at 2.230% Australia’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 4.81% Commodities
Spot gold fell 0.5% to $5,061.22 an ounce West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.3% to $64.81 a barrel This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Paul Dobson, Richard Henderson and Gabrielle Ng.
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
