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As the sun rose over Osaka, Japan, early trading in the Asia-Pacific markets displayed a mixed performance on Thursday. This came on the heels of Wall Street’s gains, driven by optimistic job data that suggest the Federal Reserve might lower interest rates in its upcoming meeting.
According to ADP, a prominent payroll processor, private companies reduced their workforce by 32,000 in November. This contrasts with October’s increase of 47,000 jobs and falls short of the 40,000 new jobs anticipated by economists surveyed by Dow Jones.
Investor sentiment has shifted significantly, as reflected by the CME FedWatch tool, which now shows an 89% likelihood of a rate cut during the Federal Reserve’s meeting on December 9-10. This is a notable increase compared to the predictions from just a few weeks prior.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index made modest gains, rising by 0.3% in the morning session, while the broader Topix index climbed 0.33%.
Markets are pricing in an 89% chance of a cut when the Federal Reserve meets on Dec. 9-10, significantly higher than rate-cut bets just a couple of weeks ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.3% in early trading, and the Topix index advanced 0.33%.
South Korea’s Kospi index fell 0.45%, while the small-cap Kosdaq climbed 0.12%.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 was flat.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index pointed to a higher open, trading at 25,829, against the index’s previous close of 25,760.73.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 408.44 points, or 0.86%, to finish at 47,882.90. The S&P 500 traded up 0.30% to end the day at 6,849.72, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.17% to settle at 23,454.09.
Stocks with exposure to the artificial intelligence trade were the biggest drag on U.S. key benchmarks Wednesday stateside, after The Information reported Microsoft was cutting software sales quotas tied to artificial intelligence.
Other major tech names, including Nvidia and Broadcom, pulled the broad-based S&P 500 lower.
Microsoft refuted the claims in the report, which led the stock to recover slightly in after-hours trading.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
