48 minutes ago
US inflation isn’t falling — it’s just not rising as fast as before, the strategist says
Although US inflation was lower in February than in January, the Federal Reserve is expected to hike rates further, according to Kevin Heal, fixed income strategist and senior analyst at Argus Research.
The US consumer price index came in at 0.4% in February, slightly below January’s reading of 0.5%.
Speaking to CNBC’s Street Signs Asia, Heal points out that despite the lower numbers, “it’s important to note that inflation isn’t falling, it’s just not rising as fast as it was before.”
He believes that while the market may see some “lower inflation numbers” later in 2023, inflation will still be elevated and therefore, Heal said, “we expect the Fed to stay put, barring another outward one Event in the banking system comes on the way to higher rates.”
— Lim Hui Jie
24 minutes ago
Sea Group’s digital bank launched in Singapore for a select group of people
MariBank, a digital bank owned by Sea Group, launched Tuesday in Singapore for select members of the public as it gradually rolls out its services.
“We are gradually rolling out our services on an invitation-only basis,” the website reads.
MariBank was previously only available to Sea Group employees starting in Q3 2022.
The bank currently only offers retail customers a savings account at an interest rate of 2.5% per annum, with no minimum deposit required.
Sea Group shares rose as much as 3.31% in Tuesday trading.
See grafic…
Sea Group stock performance
Before an hour
CATL sees declines after report says it is delaying its $5 billion listing in Switzerland
Shenzhen-listed Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) fell slightly after Portal reported that the battery giant was delaying plans for a $5 billion listing in Switzerland, citing people familiar with the matter.
Portal reported that the expected approval from Chinese regulators has been delayed and that Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed mixed feelings about the status of his role in a burgeoning electric vehicle industry.
4 hours ago
Health care and technology stocks lead rally in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index led gains in the Asia-Pacific region as it climbed 2.35% on Wednesday, boosted by healthcare and technology stocks.
Some of the top gainers in the index were search engine company Baidu, which rose 6.28%, Alibaba Health Information Technology rose 5.59%, and internet company Netease, whose shares rose 4.02%.
However, the top gainer on the HSI was Orient Overseas (International), which rose 9.49%. The company is the parent company of the container shipping company Orient Overseas Container Line.
— Lim Hui Jie
3 hours ago
CNBC Pro: UBS says it will buy these 4 stocks if US-China geopolitical fears continue to mount
UBS has identified a number of Chinese stocks it believes have remained “resilient” during a period of heightened geopolitical tensions between the United States and China.
In a March 13 note to clients, the Swiss bank said more market volatility could be expected if a potential US investment ban in some Chinese sectors was announced.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about UBS’s stock picks here.
— Ganesh Rao
5 hours before
Banks in Singapore and South Korea rise in early trade, tracking Wall Street’s recovery
Banking shares in Singapore and South Korea rose across the board Wednesday morning after Wall Street banks posted overnight gains.
In Singapore, OCBC Bank led gains among the country’s big three banks, rising 2.24%, while UOB and DBS posted gains of 2.08% and 1.64% respectively.
South Korean financials posted slightly larger gains, with KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Financial and Woori Financial up 2.69%, 1.71% and 2.79% respectively.
— Lim Hui Jie
5 hours before
China’s industrial production, retail sales increase in January-February
China’s industrial production rose 2.4% in January-February, official data showed.
Retail sales rose as expected by 3.55% over the same period.
China’s fixed investment rose 5.5% in the first two months of the year, beating expectations of economists polled by Portal, who forecast growth of 4.4%.
China’s onshore yuan weakened following the release of the data, trading at 6.8822 against the US dollar.
The People’s Bank of China left the interest rate on 481 billion yuan one-year medium-term credit facility loans at 2.75%.
7 hours ago
The Bank of Japan reiterates its stance of maintaining its ultra-dovish policy
Minutes from the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting in January showed that members reiterated the need to maintain their ultra-dovish stance.
“The bank should carefully explain that it must continue with monetary easing, that its accommodative monetary policy stance has not been changed and that it will take time to reach the price stability target of 2 percent in a sustainable and stable manner,” a member was quoted as saying.
The minutes of the meeting also showed that the board members expect further recovery of the Japanese economy.
“Some members expressed the view that the economy continued to recover, led by domestic demand; in particular, a recovery in demand for services and a virtuous circle in the corporate sector have become the driving forces,” it said.
The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond edged up to 0.296% after plunging above the upper limit of its tolerance range last Thursday and hit 0.276% on Tuesday.
– Jihye Lee
7 hours ago
Japanese banks rise after Wall Street banks rebound
Japanese financials rose in morning trade on Wednesday, reversing direction seen earlier in the week and following the recovery in Wall Street banks.
Tokyo-listed Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rose 3.25%, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 2.73% and Mizuho Financial Group also rose 2.04%. Nomura Holdings was also up 1.7%.
Tech giant SoftBank Group, meanwhile, continued to post marginal losses of 0.62%.
7 hours ago
South Korea’s unemployment rate falls to 2.6% in February
South Korea’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February fell slightly to 2.6% from 2.9% in January.
This was also lower than the figure of 2.8% compared to the same period last year.
The total number of unemployed at 743,000 was below the 842,000 in January and 797,000 in February 2022.
— Lim Hui Jie
23 hours ago
SVB collapse is unlikely to affect fundraising for Southeast Asia startups: VCs
The collapse of the US-based Silicon Valley Bank is unlikely to impact Southeast Asian fundraising startups, venture capital firms told CNBC.
“I find [the impact on fundraising is] Be careful, but I don’t think the contagion is spreading,” David Gowdey, managing partner of Southeast Asian VC firm Jungle Ventures, said on CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia on Tuesday.
He added that “funds in Southeast Asia are well capitalized” and “there is a lot of capital to deploy”.
Vinnie Lauria, managing partner at Golden Gate Ventures, said this is the “time to shine” for Southeast Asia.
“[Southeast Asia] looks like a golden child to US investors now,” Lauria said on CNBC’s Street Signs Asia on Tuesday.
“Investors are starting to say: I want to diversify into different bank accounts, different regions, different currencies.”
– Sheila Chiang
16 hours ago
Moody’s downgrades the outlook for the US banking system to negative
Moody’s Investors Service on Monday changed its assessment of the US banking system to negative from stable, citing a “rapidly deteriorating operating environment”.
The move comes as sectors falter following the shutdowns of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Bank stocks staged a comeback on Tuesday after slipping in recent sessions amid concerns of contagion from the shutdowns.
“We have revised our outlook for the US banking system to negative from stable to reflect the rapid deterioration in the operating environment following deposit runs at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank (SNY) and the collapses of SVB and SNY ‘ said Moody’s in a report.
– Alex Harring, Jeff Cox
6 hours ago
CNBC Pro: As markets get rocky, these global stocks are looking resilient and are expected to recover
Markets have had a bumpy March so far as inflation fears returned and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank sent investors into risk-averse mode.
With this in mind, CNBC Pro used FactSet to look for stocks in the MSCI World Index and S&P 500 that appear well positioned to weather the volatility and are expected to perform well going forward.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about the stock here.
— Wheat Tan
17 hours ago
Markets are raising the probability of a quarter-point Fed hike next week
Despite some speculation that recent bank failures could prompt the Fed to hold off on rate hikes, market prices suggest the central bank is still on track.
CPI data released Tuesday morning were in line with market expectations and showed that the Fed still has work to do in its efforts to bring down inflation.
Traders were looking at an 86.4% chance of a 25 basis point (0.25 percentage point) gain at next week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting, compared with levels earlier in the morning. Additionally, the implied level of the peak or terminal interest rate rose to just under 5%, according to CME Group data.
However, there have been some rumors that the Fed should tread more cautiously given the implosions at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
“To be clear, we think further increases are now unnecessary; the lagged effect of last year’s hikes is enough to push inflation back on target, but Fed officials have so far been unwilling to accept that argument, and up until last week they appeared to be betting on further hikes,” Ian wrote Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
“Recent events point to a pause until May, but at that point that would be more of a pleasant surprise than our base case,” he added.
– Jeff Cox
6 hours ago
CNBC Pro: ‘Chaos creates opportunities’: Strategist says to look beyond SVB fallout – and names his top picks
Concerned about contagion from Silicon Valley bank collapse? Veteran strategist Kenny Polcari believes the impact of the SVB’s failure will be fairly limited.
While investors tend to avoid the banking sector in the near term, Polcari sees “some very interesting opportunities” in this space, as well as in other segments of the market.
Pro subscribers can read more here.
– Zavier Ong
16 hours ago
Financials are outperforming, led by regional banks
The financials sector of the S&P 500 rallied more than 2% to lead the broader market higher, buoyed by regional bank names that sold off sharply in the previous session. Just after 10:00 a.m. ET, the sector was on track for its biggest one-day gain since November 10, when it rose 5.1%.
Communication services and energy, along with technology, were also up more than 2%.
—Fred Imbert
19 hours ago
US inflation data is in line with expectations
The consumer price index rose 0.4% mom in February, in line with an estimate by the Dow Jones. The increase of 6% compared to the previous year was also in line with expectations.
—Fred Imbert