This content was published on <\/p>\n
July 4, 2025 – 00:19\n<\/p>\n
(Bloomberg) \u2014 Asian equities were set to climb Friday following fresh highs for US stocks as strong jobs data eased concerns the economy slowing down.<\/p>\n
Equity index futures for Japan and Australia rose, while those for Hong Kong were fractionally lower. The S&P 500 gained 0.8% and the Nasdaq 100 advanced 1% Thursday, leaving each index at the highest closing level on record in a shortened session ahead of Friday\u2019s Independence Day holiday. Contracts for US stocks were little changed in early Asian trading.<\/p>\n
US markets closed prior to the House passing President Donald Trump\u2019s tax bill that includes some $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that had weeks earlier sparked concerns over rising deficits.<\/p>\n
Treasuries fell and the dollar rose in a sign traders see less pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates after US job growth exceeded expectations in June. Swap traders saw almost no chance of a July Fed cut, compared with a roughly 25% probability seen before the data. The chance of a move in September ebbed to about 70%.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe solid June jobs report confirms that the labor market remains resolute and slams the door shut on a July rate cut,\u201d said Jeff Schulze at ClearBridge Investments. \u201cA wage-price inflationary spiral shouldn\u2019t be a near-term concern, setting up something resembling a \u2018Goldilocks\u2019 scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, traders remain on alert after Trump said his administration may begin sending out letters to trading partners as soon as Friday setting unilateral tariff rates ahead of a July 9 deadline for negotiations.<\/p>\n
Asked Thursday if more deals were on the way, Trump responded that \u201cwe have a couple of other deals, but you know, my inclination is to send a letter out and say what tariffs they are going to be paying.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Asia, Hong Kong\u2019s de-facto central bank bought the city\u2019s dollar again to defend its foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong dollar has had a wild ride recently with two previous rounds of intervention failing to send funding costs high enough to dampen bearish currency bets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, data set for release in the region included inflation for the Philippines, household spending for Australia and retail sales in Singapore.<\/p>\n
Rate Outlook<\/p>\n
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday questioned Fed officials\u2019 judgment on rates, reiterating his view that two-year yields are a signal their benchmark rate is too high.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe committee seems to be a little off here in their judgment,\u201d Bessent said in an interview on Fox Business, referring to the Fed\u2019s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee.<\/p>\n
Headline numbers from the June jobs report took pressure off the Fed to consider a rate cut later this month, but the solid figures masked weakness in private payrolls and other potential warning signs of deterioration in the labor market. That\u2019s a trend that could raise the stakes later in the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile today\u2019s report points to still firm job creation, we don\u2019t think the underlying details of the report are as supportive as suggested by the top-line beat,\u201d said Oscar Munoz and Gennadiy Goldberg at TD Securities. \u201cThe story of a low-fire, low-hire labor market continues to hold for now.\u201d<\/p>\n
In commodities, gold fell Thursday while oil prices also retreated as media reports indicated OPEC+ has begun discussing another production increase.<\/p>\n
Some of the main moves in markets:<\/p>\n
Stocks<\/p>\n
Currencies<\/p>\n
Cryptocurrencies<\/p>\n
Commodities<\/p>\n
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.<\/p>\n
\u00a92025 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This content was published on July 4, 2025 – 00:19 (Bloomberg) \u2014 Asian equities were set to climb…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3091],"tags":[3420,51,22526,27062,2441,7063,22527,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-235939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-bonds","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-business-general","11":"tag-currency-values","12":"tag-markets","13":"tag-stocks","14":"tag-ticker","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114791869624430456","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}