Asia Poised for a Weak Start After US Stocks Waver: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Asian equities looked set for a weak start after a lackluster session on Wall Street weighed on tech stocks and bonds and saw Bitcoin halt its rebound ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve decision.
Equity index futures for Japan and Hong Kong pointed to declines with stocks in Australia opening lower. US futures were little changed after the S&P 500 climbed 0.1% in the previous session. The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose three basis points to 4.1% on Thursday, the dollar fluctuated and Bitcoin dropped below $93,000.
The muted moves underscore that risk sentiment remained fragile even as the S&P 500 has rebounded in the past two weeks to be within 0.5% of its record closing high. Those gains partly reflected easing concerns over tech valuations and confidence among traders that the Fed will deliver a 25 basis point interest rate cut next week in its last meeting of the year.
Small-caps were a bright spot during the US session though. The Russell 2000 Index climbed 0.8% to a record high, in a sign gains in the stock market are broadening to companies more sensitive to economic growth.
“The key question hanging over markets is whether a potential Federal Reserve rate cut next week can trigger a so-called Santa rally,” said Fawad Razaqzada at Forex.com. “For now, the S&P 500 forecast remains cautiously constructive, albeit with more hesitancy creeping in.”
Bets on a Fed reduction remained intact despite a slide in jobless claims — a noisy reading that captured the Thanksgiving period. Meta Platforms Inc. shares jumped 3.4% after people familiar with the matter said executives are considering budget cuts for the metaverse group.
MSCI Inc.’s gauge for Asian equities rose nearly 1% in the previous session, capping a third straight day of gains. Focus today will be on an interest-rate decision in India and data releases on household spending in Japan, inflation in the Philippines and Taiwan. Markets are closed in Thailand.
US government bonds were sold off on Thursday as data showed signs of resilience in the jobs market. Applications for US unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest in more than three years, indicating that employers are still largely holding onto workers despite a wave of recent layoffs. Separate data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed announced layoffs at US companies fell last month after surging in October, but were still the highest for any November in three years.
“Overall, the net takeaway from the data served to confirm the crosscurrents evident in the labor landscape,” said Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets.
Federal Reserve
Policymakers will not yet have the government’s November jobs report in hand for their meeting next week. The report, originally due Dec. 5, was delayed until Dec. 16 as a result of the record-long government shutdown. That release will also include October payrolls figures.
“There remain some negative payroll employment readings. But the US labor market is not collapsing based on timely data and reports that have leading indicator properties,” said Don Rissmiller at Strategas. “We continue to believe the Fed will cut the fed funds rate again by 25 basis points in December.”
While investors are largely betting policymakers will cut rates again, officials have rarely been so divided as many still prefer leaving rates elevated to keep inflation in check.
Before their meeting, Fed officials will get a dated reading on their preferred inflation gauge. On Friday, the September income and spending report — also delayed because of the government shutdown — is due to be released.
The figures will include the personal consumption expenditures price index and a core measure that excludes food and energy. Economists project a third-straight 0.2% increase in the core index. That would keep the year-over-year figure hovering just below 3%, a sign that inflationary pressures are stable, yet sticky.
“We continue to expect two rate cuts by the end of the first quarter of 2026, with Friday’s personal consumption expenditure index likely to show price pressures under control,” said Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi at UBS Global Wealth Management.
Corporate News
Australian data center group NextDC Ltd. and ChatGPT-developer OpenAI agreed to partner on the development of a large-scale data center in Sydney. NextDC’s shares jumped. The cloud-computing startup Fluidstack is in talks to raise roughly $700 million in a funding round that would value the company at $7 billion, according to a person familiar with the situation. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. plans to team up with Morgan Stanley in asset management, deepening their 17-year partnership. Jane Street Group’s record haul this year has been boosted by savvy bets on the artificial intelligence boom that are showing up as big gains in its trading results, according to people familiar with the matter. China’s crackdown on borrowing by local governments is forcing state-run entities in even some of the wealthiest provinces to tap costly credit from non-bank lenders, a stopgap that’s building up risks in an opaque corner of the financial system. Nvidia Corp. would be barred from shipping advanced artificial intelligence chips to China under bipartisan legislation unveiled Thursday in a bid to codify existing US restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductors to the Chinese market. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 8:20 a.m. Tokyo time Hang Seng futures fell 0.2% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1642 The Japanese yen was little changed at 155.16 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.0696 per dollar The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.6607 Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 0.1% to $92,300.2 Ether rose 0.5% to $3,139.49 Bonds
Australia’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 4.69% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed Spot gold was little changed This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
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