Stocks in Asia were higher overnight, with the Nikkei (^N225) up 0.9% on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) rose 1.1% in Hong Kong — the latter rising to a four-year high amid hopes that China will cut interest rates after consumer prices fell further.
China consumer prices fell more than anticipated in August, while deflation in wholesale prices continued, as calls intensified for Beijing to enhance measures to stimulate sluggish domestic demand and mitigate the decline in export growth.
The CPI decreased 0.4% year-on-year compared to the -0.2% expected, primarily due to a high base effect and weaker-than-normal seasonal increases in food prices.
The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.1% up by the end of the session.
In South Korea, the Kospi (^KS11) added 1.7% on the day as strong demand for technology stocks and the continued artificial intelligence boom boosted shares.
Across the pond on Wall Street, all three major indexes gained ground, with the S&P 500 (^GSPC) managing a record closing high, up 0.3% to 6,512.61 as the Mag-7 (+0.83%) powered ahead to a new record of their own.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) also boasted a fresh high for its second day in a row, climbing 0.4%, to 21,879.49 and the Dow Jones (^DJI) also gained 0.4% to 45,711.34.
It came after total US payrolls were revised down by 911,000 in March 2025, meaning that the labour market was in a weaker state than we previously thought.
Meanwhile, in a Fox Business interview yesterday, Treasury Secretary Bessent did say that the Fed should recalibrate policy given the revised data, having also posted earlier that Trump is “right to say the Fed is choking off growth with high rates”.