23 minutes ago
Energy stocks are weighing on Japanese indices, making the country the only loser in Asia
Japan’s benchmark indexes were in negative territory on Friday, the only major Asian market to do so.
Both the Nikkei 225 and Topix lost 0.05% and 0.94%, respectively, mainly due to losses in energy stocks as oil prices retreated from their highest level in 13 months.
Light crude oil traded at $91.68 on Friday, while Brent traded at $95, down from their 13-month highs of $93.68 and $96.55, respectively .
The biggest loser on the Nikkei was shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines, down 5.23%, while utilities Kansai Electric Power Company and Chubu Electric Power Company were also on the list of top losers, down 4.8% and 4, respectively. Lost 6%.
—Lim Hui Jie
3 hours ago
Hang Seng is rising more than 2%, led by consumer discretionary and real estate stocks
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led gains in Asia, rising 2.45% as Asian markets largely recovered from losses on Thursday, driven by consumer discretionary and real estate stocks.
Technology company Alibaba Health was the biggest gainer in the index, up 7.94%, while other top gainers included sporting goods retailer Li Ning and real estate services provider China Resources Mixc Lifestyle, a subsidiary of real estate company China Resources Land.
6 hours ago
CNBC Pro: Are you expecting a recession? Investors can gain 40% with a simple bond trade
With interest rates peaking, investment advisors are now seeing opportunities for strong gains on certain government bonds.
A combination of macroeconomic factors and tax-free benefits are expected to increase returns for investors.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
– Ganesh Rao
6 hours ago
Inflation in Tokyo is growing at its slowest pace in a year
Inflation in the Japanese capital grew at its slowest pace in a year, reaching 2.8% in September compared to 2.9% in August. The last time the inflation rate was this low was in September 2022.
The core inflation rate, which takes into account fresh food prices, was 2.5%, lower than the 2.6% expected by economists in a Portal poll and also lower than the 2.8% in August.
Tokyo’s inflation rate is considered a leading indicator of nationwide inflation trends.
—Lim Hui Jie
6 hours ago
CNBC Pro: BofA reveals the global stocks that tend to outperform when the US dollar rises
The US dollar is on the rise after the US Federal Reserve appears to have decided to raise interest rates for an extended period of time.
While economies and stock markets around the world are likely to come under pressure in such a scenario, a number of European stocks could actually benefit from a rising US dollar, according to Bank of America.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
—Amala Balakrishner
6 hours ago
Japan’s industrial and retail activity better than expected, unemployment unchanged
Japan’s factory output was flat in August compared with July, beating economists polled by Portal with a 0.8% decline.
Year-on-year, industrial production fell for the third month in a row, falling 3.7%.
Separately, retail sales rose 7% year-on-year, higher than expected (6.6%) and at the same pace as the revised July figure of 7%.
The unemployment rate in Japan also remained unchanged at 2.7% in August.
—Lim Hui Jie
18 hours ago
Oil prices reach their highest level in more than a year
Oil prices rose to their highest in over a year during Asian trading hours after crude inventories at a key storage hub fell to their lowest level since July last year.
Crude oil inventories in Cushing, Oklahoma, fell to 22 million barrels in the fourth week of September – close to the operating minimum, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). This is a decrease of 943,000 barrels compared to the previous week.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures hit $95.03 a barrel during Asian trading hours, marking the highest level since August 2022. They were last at $93.16 a barrel.
Global benchmark Brent was at $97.56 a barrel at the start of the session. They last traded at $96.03 a barrel.
—Lee Ying Shan, Sarah Min
18 hours ago
GDP rose 2.1% in the third quarter as the government announced revisions
Real gross domestic product rose 2.1% on an annual basis in the second quarter, according to a third and final estimate released by the Commerce Department on Thursday. That was unchanged from the previous reading but below the Dow Jones estimate of 2.2%.
However, the government revised its previous GDP figures and cut the first quarter growth for each of the years 2020 to 2022.
The new values are -5.3%, 5.2% and -2% respectively, compared to the previous -4.6%, 6.3% and -1.6%.
In other economic news, initial jobless claims on Thursday totaled 204,000 for the week ending Sept. 23, according to Labor Department data. That was below the estimate of 214,000. Current claims rose to 1.67 million, up 12,000 and slightly below the FactSet estimate of 1.675 million.
–Jeff Cox
15 hours ago
The advancers on the NYSE are about 3:1 ahead of the decliners
More than two stocks on the New York Stock Exchange rose for every decline on Thursday as Wall Street tried to recoup some of September’s steep losses. In total, 1,976 NYSE-listed stocks rose while 719 fell.
—Fred Imbert
11 hours ago
Retail investor pessimism rises to a 4-month high while optimism falls to a 4-month low
In the latest weekly survey from the American Association of Individual Investors, individual investor dislike rose to 40.9% from 34.6% last week, the highest level since mid-May. The survey asks investors about their outlook for stocks over the next six months.
In turn, optimism fell to 27.8%, a four-month low, from 31.3% last week.
The historical average for the bearish trend is 31.0% and for the bullish trend it is 37.5%.
Bullish sentiment has been below its historical average for the sixth week out of seven, falling 14.4 percentage points in the last three weeks alone.
– Scott Schnipper