Asian Stocks Set to Track US Higher as Bonds Gain: Markets Wrap

Asian equities are poised to track Wall Street stocks higher as Treasuries halted a selloff that drove 10-year yields near 4.5%. Traders were also closely watching news around President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

Author of the article:

Bloomberg News

Jason Scott

Published Nov 18, 2024  •  4 minute read

e}srglcm({[st)w7f[vy1xdt_media_dl_1.png Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Asian equities are poised to track Wall Street stocks higher as Treasuries halted a selloff that drove 10-year yields near 4.5%. Traders were also closely watching news around President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

Futures showed benchmarks in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney gaining on Tuesday, with US contracts also climbing in early trading. The Nasdaq 100 outperformed after its longest rout since January, with Tesla Inc. up 5.6% on a news report Trump’s transition team have told advisers they plan to make a federal framework for fully self-driving vehicles one of the Transportation Department’s priorities. Nvidia Corp., which reports results this week, fell.

Article content

Bonds rose across the US curve, reversing a move that earlier drove 30-year yields to their May highs. Australia’s 10-year yield fell in early trading Tuesday. 

“Traders appear to be gauging the potential impact of a new Trump administration’s policies on the economy, and the possibility that the Fed may slow down its rate-cutting campaign,” said Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley. “With a relatively light economic calendar this week, the focus will shift to earnings — especially Nvidia’s, which have the potential to dictate the market’s short-term momentum.”

The S&P 500 rose 0.4%. The Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%.

Treasury 10-year yields declined three basis points to 4.41%. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slid 0.4%. Bitcoin topped $91,000.

Investors in Asia will be gauging whether Monday’s rebound for equities in China and Hong Kong following last week’s selloff can be sustained. Traders are reassessing the outlook for further stimulus and the country’s guidance on boosting corporate valuation. 

Wall Street brokerages including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have turned more cautious on Chinese stocks as persistent deflationary pressures and geopolitical tensions cloud the outlook for earnings in the world’s second-largest equity market.

Article content

Article content

Oil surged on Monday as simmering geopolitical tensions and the weakening dollar overshadowed bearish signals coming from internal market metrics. West Texas Intermediate rose 3.2% to settle above $69 a barrel after the US gave Ukraine the green light to use long-range missiles inside of Russia, amping up tensions between the warring nations.

Gold rose by the most since August as Goldman Sachs reiterated a forecast for prices to reach $3,000 an ounce next year, with analysts advising investors to “go for gold.” 

In Washington, Trump’s transition team is considering pairing Kevin Warsh, a former Federal Reserve official, in the Treasury secretary role, with hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as director of the White House’s National Economic Council, according to people familiar with the matter.

Top Justice Department antitrust officials have decided to ask a judge to force Alphabet Inc.’s Google to sell off its Chrome browser in what would be a historic crackdown on one of the biggest tech companies in the world. The department will ask the judge to require measures related to artificial intelligence and its Android smartphone operating system, according to people familiar with the plans. 

Article content

Corporate Highlights:

• Nvidia Corp. dropped after the Information reported that the chip giant has asked its suppliers to change the design of the server racks for its new Blackwell graphics processing unit due to an overheating problem.
• Super Micro Computer Inc. climbed as the server maker approaches a Monday deadline to either file a delayed 10-K annual report or submit a plan to file the form to Nasdaq in order to remain listed on the exchange.
• MicroStrategy Inc. bought about 51,780 Bitcoin for around $4.6 billion, the largest purchase by the crypto hedge-fund proxy since it began acquiring the digital-asset more than four years ago.
• Spirit Airlines Inc. has filed for bankruptcy in the wake of greater competition from rival carriers and financial troubles following its scuttled merger with JetBlue Airways Corp.
• CVS Health Corp. named Glenview Capital Management founder Larry Robbins to its board as part of an agreement with the activist firm that’s been pressuring the company for change.
• President-elect Donald Trump nominated Chris Wright, the chief executive officer of Liberty Energy Inc., to lead the Energy Department.
• Newmont Corp. agreed to sell its Musselwhite gold mine in Ontario to Orla Mining Ltd. for up to $850 million as part of a divestment campaign designed to boost shareholder returns.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. was upgraded at Raymond James to strong buy from outperform.
• Moderna Inc. was upgraded to buy from hold at HSBC, with analysts saying the market isn’t giving enough credit to the firm’s pipeline.
• Biogen Inc. was downgraded to hold from buy at Needham, which said it does not see a “meaningful source of upside” for the stock in the next 12 months.

Article content

Key events this week:

• Eurozone CPI, Tuesday
• US housing starts, Tuesday
• Fed’s Jeff Schmid speaks, Tuesday
• China loan prime rates, Wednesday
• Nvidia earnings, Wednesday
• Fed’s Lisa Cook and Michelle Bowman speak, Wednesday
• Eurozone consumer confidence, Thursday
• US existing home sales, initial jobless claims, Philadelphia Fed factory index, Thursday
• Eurozone HCOB Manufacturing & Services PMI, Friday
• US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, S&P Global Manufacturing & Services PMI, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• Hang Seng futures rose 0.8% as of 7:40 a.m. Tokyo time
• S&P/ASX 200 futures rose 0.1%
• Nikkei 225 futures rose 0.1%

Currencies

• The euro was little changed at $1.0599
• The Japanese yen was little changed at 154.66 per dollar
• The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.2286 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin was little changed at $91,339.43
• Ether rose 0.2% to $3,157.22

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 4.41%
• Australia’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 4.56%

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

Article content