Asian stocks climb with focus on inflation data

Equities edged higher in Japan, South Korea and Australia, while contracts for Hong Kong rose after the S&P 500 rebounded following a rout that put the gauge on the cusp of breaching its average price of the past 100 days.

The dollar was little changes versus most of its major counterparts after falling Thursday as geopolitics-driven appetite for haven investments faded. 

Treasury yields held gains from the previous session, with 10-year yields hovering just below 3.5%. Government bond yields inched lower in Australia while those in New Zealand edged higher.

Oil rose at the open in Asia, but headed for a weekly drop of nearly 10% after a volatile session on Thursday on concerns over economic outlook. Gold steadied.

Friday’s producer price index for November is one of the final pieces of data Federal Reserve policymakers will see before their Dec. 13-14 policy meeting. The PPI in October cooled more than expected. Meanwhile there are some signs the labor market is cooling, with continuing jobless claims climbing to the highest since early February.

Strategists from Morgan Stanley to JPMorgan Chase & Co. have warned investors against piling back into risk on hopes the Fed is getting close to pivoting to easier policy.

“We think the worst is yet to come. We’re looking for a moderate recession next year, which means a moderate decline in corporate profits are our target for the year,” Gary Schlossberg, global strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said on Bloomberg Television. Wells Fargo expects earnings per share for S&P 500 stocks at about $205 a share.

Meanwhile, consensus is for China’s inflation indexes to have headed down last month, though Bloomberg Economics expects a pickup as the economy reopens. 

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.