Hong Kong halts trade as typhoon warning is issued; Asian markets mixed ahead of Fed decision

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell may indicate another 75 basis point hike is coming in December after an expected increase in November, said Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research.

“Squawk Box Asia.”

Yardeni said he thinks the Fed wants to accelerate its hikes instead of raising rates by 50 basis points, followed by two increases of 25 basis points.

—Abigail from

The Hang Seng Index’s rally this week was in part because it was “ripe for any type of rally, rebound and short-sell coverage,” said regional chief equity strategist Timothy Moe. for Asia-Pacific at Goldman Sachs.

The two-day rally follows steep declines after the conclusion of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Unverified social media posts about China’s potential reopening in March next year also provided the catalyst for a jump, Moe told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”

“We’ll have to see if that holds, and we’re still a bit skeptical of how much the market will go up from here, until we get some more concrete evidence that China is indeed heading towards reopening,” he added. .

—Abigail from

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange suspended trading at 1:55 p.m. after the Hong Kong Observatory issued a warning signal for tropical cyclone number 8.

The suspension follows the guidelines of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange website, which states that trading will end 15 minutes after the signal is issued.

“There will be no closing auction session for that trading day if trading has not resumed by 3:45 p.m. (for full day trading) or 11:45 a.m. (for half day trading)” , says the notice. HKEx has confirmed that there will be no extended trading.

–Jihye Lee, Christine Wang

Oil futures prices rose on Wednesday after industry reports showed a drop in U.S. crude inventories over the past week, Reuters reported, citing figures from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday.

Brent futures gained $1.31, or 1.46%, to settle at $95.87 a barrel, while United States West Texas Intermediate rose 1.28% to $89.67 a barrel.

— Lee Ying Shan

Listed defence-related stocks in South Korea and Japan jumped after military authorities in Seoul confirmed that North Korea had fired more than 10 types of missiles off its east coast.

The missile barrage included a ballistic missile that landed in open waters on the South Korean side of the Northern Limit Line, a de facto maritime border that separates the two Koreas – the first case since the Korean War, the authorities said. authorities.

Shares of defense companies Hanwha Aerospace jumped more than 5% in morning trade in Korea, and Victek climbed more than 7%.

Japanese defense stocks were trading slightly higher with Hosoya Pyro-Engineering up almost 1%.

– Jihye Lee

Board members at the Bank of Japan’s most recent meeting agreed that it was appropriate to “persistently pursue large-scale monetary easing,” according to minutes released Wednesday.

One member said the central bank’s easing stance should continue even if inflation picks up in the near term, as long as expectations remain low.

The BOJ’s monetary policy is aimed at price stability, not exchange rates, a few members said, and that it should “carefully explain” the need to maintain the current stance.

Some members said an expansion in inbound tourism consumption was a way to take advantage of the weak yen.

Separately, BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda reportedly told parliament that the yield curve control policy could be adjusted in the future, according to Reuters.

“If achieving our 2% inflation target is in sight, making yield curve control more flexible could become an option,” Kuroda said.

—Abigail from

South Korea’s consumer price index rose 5.7% in October from the same period a year ago, above average estimates of 5.6% predicted by a Reuters poll.

Data from Statistics Korea showed prices rose 0.3% from the previous month.

Electricity prices, gas prices and industrial prices led the rise, and core inflation, which excludes food and oil prices, rose 4.8% from a year ago. one year old.

– Jihye Lee

Goldman’s Jeff Currie says there is an investment that can protect investors against rising interest rates, inflation and geopolitical risks.

Currie, global head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, said he had 20-30% upside potential in the near term, with additional upside risks to the price target.

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—Ganesh Rao

Stocks in Hong Kong and Mainland China rallied Tuesday after unconfirmed reports surfaced about the formation of a committee to reopen talks in China. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told Reuters he was unaware of the situation.

“I don’t know where you got this information from. I really don’t know anything about it,” Zhao reportedly said.

Economist Hao Hong of Grow Investment Group tweeted that the supposed committee was reviewing data from multiple countries and aiming to reopen in March next year.

– Jihye Lee

Stocks ended lower as markets braced for another Fed rate decision due Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 79.75 points, or 0.24%, to 32,653.20, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.41% to 3,856.10. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.89% to 10,890.85.

— Samantha Subin

Investors might be a little too excited about potential changes to the Federal Reserve, according to Lauren Goodwin, economist and portfolio strategist at New York Life Investments.

Goodwin said in a note that she expected the Fed to hike 0.75 percentage points on Wednesday and half a point in December, but the slowdown shouldn’t be seen as the start of a a big change from the central bank.

“A Fed pause is not the same as a pivot. While deteriorating economic and credit conditions may cause the Fed to pivot modestly at some point, a full pivot into dovish territory is highly unlikely. next year,” Goodwin said in a statement. Remark.

Goodwin pointed out that the first rate hikes should now start to show their impact on the broader economy, rather than just housing. However, the Fed will need several months of data to work its way through before changing course.

“At this point, with inflation as surprising as it has been before, the Fed will want to see clear signs of reversal in wage growth before pivoting. Recession should be seen as a base case scenario rather than ‘a risk,'” Goodwin said.

—Jesse Pound