PUSH market day starts with 4 hot topics for investors.
From the jump Nikkei on volatility bitcoin to growing geopolitical tensions and speculation about moves Fed and oninflation in the USglobal stock markets fluctuate in a context of uncertainty.
Attention to stock and bond markets is now focused at least on 4 major events.
1. Japan is shining, China is not
L’Japanese stocks hit a near 34-year high, while other Asian shares traded around one-month lows and bond markets traded cautiously ahead of U.S. inflation data due this week.
The Nikkei, which had its best year in a decade in 2023, rose more than 2% to more than 34,000 for the first time since 1990. Exports led the jump, helped by a weakening yen. The broader Topix index also hit its highest level since 1990.
The rally contrasts with the trend shares in Chinawhere the CSI300 blue chips fell to five-year lows.
2. EFT Bitcoin, what happens?
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said his X account was compromised after a post on a social media page falsely claimed the agency approved exchange traded fund Bitcoin spot.
Bitcoin initially surged on the fake post before collapsing after the SEC response. Traders have been speculating for weeks that the agency could give the green light to many of today’s cryptocurrency tools.
3. War in the Red Sea
THE Houthi rebels in Yemen carried out one of their largest missile and drone attacks on Red Sea trade routesprompting a response from five US and British warships patrolling the region critical to global trade.
Allied forces shot down eighteen drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile, US Central Command said.
4. Economic data in the spotlight
Investors will look at the report oninflation in the US on Thursday for information on times rate cut by the Federal Reserve. According to Bloomberg Economics, cooling headline inflation is expected to reverse in the December data.
HSBC Holdings Plc’s Max Kettner stressed, according to Bloomberg, that there is a growing mismatch between markets discounting interest rate cuts and resilient economic fundamentals that reduce the need for such easing. So there is a risk of creating a complicated scenario for global markets. The Fed will start its own, he said release cycle in June, later than market prices indicate May or even March.
Reports on China’s inflation, trade and credit will also be released in the coming days, offering a clearer picture of the health of the world’s second-largest economy.