Asian Stocks Climb as Risk Sentiment Rebounds: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks tracked gains in their US peers as an easing in US consumer inflation expectations bolstered the case for the Federal Reserve to cut rates this year.

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Markets in Hong Kong, China, Australia, South Korea and Japan advanced on Monday. US equity futures were little changed.

The renewed optimism comes after a gauge of Asian stocks suffered their worst week in more than a month. The losses were fueled by doubts over whether the Fed will cut rates this year along with concerns over the implementation and effectiveness of a property rescue package in China.

In Japan, the yen traded slightly stronger against the dollar as Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said Monday the central bank will move cautiously to anchor inflation expectations at 2%. The yen fluctuated around 157 per greenback, as markets priced in a chance of another rate hike by the BOJ this year.

Wall Street got a degree of relief as University of Michigan data showed consumers expect prices to climb at a 3.3% annual rate over the next year, down from the 3.5% expected earlier in the month. Later this week, the Federal Reserve’s first-line inflation gauge – due on Friday— is set to show some modest relief from stubborn price pressures.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues have stressed the need for more evidence that inflation is on a sustained path to their 2% goal before cutting the benchmark interest rate, which has been at a two-decade high since July.

Read More: About the ‘T+1’ Rule Making US Stocks Settle in a Day: QuickTake

The dollar edged lower in Asia on Monday while the trading of cash Treasuries was closed. With US markets closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday, the “T+1” rule will come into effect when traders come back from the long weekend — making US equities settle in one day rather than two.

Among the US central bankers speaking during the holiday-shortened week are John Williams, Lisa Cook, Neel Kashkari and Lorie Logan.

Elsewhere this week, investors will pay close attention to China industrial profits and PMI data to help gauge the health of the world’s second largest economy. A swath of inflation prints from Australia to Japan and the Eurozone are also due as traders finesse bets on the outlook for monetary policy.

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In commodities, oil and gold nudged up. This year has witnessed a rolling series of commodity price spikes thanks to supply constraints, surging demand and even some speculative activity. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners are set to gather online on June 2 to discuss supply cuts.

Some key events this week:

• ECB’s Philip Lane speaks in Dublin on inflation, Monday

• IMF holds discussions with Ukrainian authorities to review economic policies as the country seeks to unlock next tranche of $2.2 billion in aid, Monday

• Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester speaks at BOJ event in Tokyo; Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and ECB Governing Council member Klaas Knot address Barclays-CEPR International Monetary Policy forum, Tuesday

• South African election, the most significant since the end of apartheid, Wednesday

• Fed releases Beige Book economic survey, Wednesday

• South Africa rate decision, US initial jobless claims, GDP, wholesale inventories, Thursday

• New York Fed President John Williams speaks at the Economic Club of New York, Thursday

• GDP data published for Canada, Eurozone, Turkey, Friday

• Japan unemployment, Tokyo CPI, industrial production, retail sales, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 10:26 a.m. Tokyo time

• Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) rose 0.3%

• Japan’s Topix rose 0.2%

• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6%

• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.4%

• The Shanghai Composite rose 0.2%

• Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.1%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed

• The euro was little changed at $1.0850

• The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 156.76 per dollar

• The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.2584 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin was little changed at $68,734.51

• Ether fell 0.4% to $3,843.35

Bonds

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.2% to $77.87 a barrel

• Spot gold rose 0.2% to $2,338.41 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Matthew Burgess.

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