Asian Stocks Steady at Open, Bitcoin Dips Again: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks traded within tight ranges early Wednesday, mirroring similar moves on Wall Street, as investors awaited fresh catalysts while a rebound in cryptocurrencies lost steam.

MSCI Inc.’s gauge of regional shares was little changed as benchmarks in South Korea and Australia swung between gains and losses. Japanese indexes were mixed. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures treaded water after the US benchmark capped its sixth advance in seven trading sessions on Tuesday. Bitcoin resumed losses after surging back above $90,000 in the previous session.

The Aussie dollar erased earlier gains after third-quarter economic growth came in slower than forecast.

The mixed backdrop highlighted the fragile sentiment heading into the year-end, with investors juggling tight equity moves and renewed volatility in cryptocurrencies as they wait for this month’s rate decisions by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan. With only a handful of data releases left before Fed officials meet next week, equity traders are treading carefully.

The stock market still requires a bit more broadening out before expecting an immediate push back to fresh highs, according to Mark Newton at Fundstrat Global Advisors. “I have a constructive view for December, but still believe it is likely to show a ‘back and forth’ type pattern over the next couple of weeks before turning higher to new highs.”

As traders awaited the last few economic reports before next week’s Fed decision, President Donald Trump said he plans to announce his selection to lead the central bank in early 2026. In response, traders in US futures markets are gaming out a wide range of policy paths and favoring more interest rate cuts next year.

Trump has pressured the Fed for months to lower interest rates, and naming a successor to Jerome Powell — whose term as Chair expires in May — would give the president his biggest chance yet to reshape the institution.

After cutting interest rates by more than a percentage point, Fed officials are now wondering where to stop – and finding there’s more disagreement than ever.

In the past year or so, prescriptions for where rates should end up have diverged by the most since at least 2012, when US central bankers started publishing their estimates. That’s feeding into an unusually public split over whether to deliver another cut next week, and what comes after that.

“Nothing is going to change our view that the Fed eases next week, but it is looking more like a hawkish cut,” said Andrew Brenner at NatAlliance Securities. “We can see at least three dissents next week.”

Money markets show traders are pricing in nearly four quarter-point Fed reductions over the next year, including one on Dec. 10.

“If the Fed doesn’t deliver as many cuts, there’s some normalization” in Treasury yields, said Jay Barry, JPMorgan’s head of global rates strategy, at a media briefing. The US economy “bends but doesn’t break,” he added.

In commodities, oil steadied on Wednesday after declining in the previous session as traders assessed the state of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The Kremlin said Vladimir Putin held “very useful” talks with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner though the sides failed to reach agreement on a plan to end the war. Elsewhere, silver and gold traded little changed.

Corporate News

Medical supply company Medline Inc. is set to begin formal marketing for its initial public offering as soon as Monday, according to people familiar with the matter, in what’s expected to be the biggest US listing this year. Taiwanese prosecutors charged Tokyo Electron Ltd. for failing to prevent staff from allegedly stealing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. trade secrets, escalating a dispute involving two Asian linchpins of a chip industry increasingly vital to national and economic security. Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud unit raced to get the latest version of its artificial intelligence chip to market, renewing efforts to sell hardware capable of rivaling products from Nvidia Corp. and Google. Comcast Corp. is looking to merge its NBCUniversal division with Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., according to people familiar with the company’s plans. Marvell Technology Inc. announced plans to acquire startup Celestial AI for at least $3.25 billion, part of a push to capture more of the runaway spending on artificial intelligence computing. Tesla Inc.’s China factory shipments rose for only the third time this year amid a broader global downturn in sales for the Elon Musk-run company. UltraGreen.ai is set to begin trading Wednesday morning in Singapore’s biggest initial public offering since 2017 excluding real estate investment trusts. CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. raised its fiscal year 2026 guidance, signaling resilient demand for the company’s expanding portfolio of artificial intelligence-enabled cybersecurity products. Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures were unchanged as of 9:34 a.m. Tokyo time Hang Seng futures fell 0.5% Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) rose 0.8% Japan’s Topix fell 0.2% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3% Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.2% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1633 The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 155.70 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.0652 per dollar The Australian dollar fell 0.2% to $0.6553 Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin fell 0.5% to $91,151.32 Ether fell 0.2% to $2,990.87 Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.08% Japan’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 1.855% Australia’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.59% Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed Spot gold rose 0.1% to $4,210.20 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

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