Next week: Asia-Pacific PMI, trade data, inflation readings
Next week, key economic events in the Asia-Pacific region will be dominated by Purchasing Managers’ Index readings in the region.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics plans to release official manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI prints. Saturday. Reuters expects China’s factory activity to show a contraction of 48 readings.
South Korea is also scheduled to report December trade data at the weekend, where economists polled by Reuters forecast a 10.1% decline from a year earlier.
Singapore is scheduled to release manufacturing PMI readings next week S&P Global It is scheduled to release PMI readings for South Korea, Indonesia and India on Monday.
Inflation prints for the Philippines and Indonesia will also be closely watched, with releases scheduled for Tuesday and Monday respectively.
Japan’s PMI reading and China’s private services survey will be released on Wednesday. Singapore will release November retail sales and South Korea’s unemployment rate for December on Thursday.
– Jihye Lee
Yamaguchi emerges as a candidate for the next governor of the Bank of Japan: Sankei
Former Bank of Japan deputy governor Hirohide Yamaguchi is seen as a candidate to lead the central bank, according to local Japanese media Sankei reportedciting people familiar with the matter.
Yamaguchi, who served as a deputy at the central bank until 2013, has sharply criticized current governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s ultra-accommodative monetary policy.
The newspaper added that Yamaguchi would signal a departure from former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic stimulus strategy known as Abenomics.
Sankei said Yamaguchi has drawn attention for moving away from current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s stimulus-oriented monetary stance, and the appointment of the next central bank chief will be clear next month.
– Jihye Lee
UOB says foreign talent will be less inclined to come to Singapore once Hong Kong reopens.
Alvin Liew, chief economist at United Overseas Bank, said that with the reopening of Hong Kong, foreigners may be less inclined to move to Singapore.
“Singapore has benefited in terms of the talent pool coming here because of stricter regulations in Hong Kong itself,” Liew said, adding that the flow of labor moving to Singapore “may ease up a bit” after the city reopens.
“The talent pool itself may be less inclined to move here,” said the Singaporean economist.
Liew also added that Hong Kong’s reopening is a step in the right direction for the region to “return to business as usual”.
Chinese markets will see a “tactical” recovery next year, the analyst says
Chinese markets are likely to see a “tactical jump” in recovery next year, Port Shelter Investment said.
“It’s only fair to say we’re going to see a tactical leap,” the firm’s chief executive Richard Harris told CNBC.
“It’s going to be tactical because at the end of the day China has to align with the rest of the world,” he said.
Harris expects China’s recovery to take place in the first quarter of the year and to continue the sentiment into the second quarter.
This recovery also depends on many unknown elements, such as whether the Chinese economy will be heavily stimulated and what will be done about inflation when the economy picks up.
– Lee Yingshan
New Chinese tech ETF could ‘bring retail liquidity’ to Singapore market: Investment firm
Singapore is listed CSI Star and ChiNext 50 Index Exchange Traded Fund Ding Chen, CEO of CSOP Asset Management, told CNBC that it could bring liquidity to Singapore from mainland China.Squawk Box Asia.”
The firm’s ETF was listed on the Singapore Exchange on Friday and is a sub-fund of CSOP SG ETF Series I, a Singapore unit trust, according to the fund’s page.
“Through SGX, Singaporean investors and global investors can also gain access to China-listed ETFs,” Ding said, adding that Chinese investors can invest directly in Singaporean ETFs.
Asked about the evolution of the firm’s ETF portfolio, Ding said it would “bring more emerging, younger-generation technology companies” to the market.
– Sheila Chiang
Inflation in South Korea did not change in December
South Korea’s December consumer price index rose 5% year-on-year Bank of Korea showed.
The reading maintained cooler levels throughout the month and was unchanged from November.
The print was in line with the expectations of economists polled by Reuters.
– Jihye Lee
Stocks close higher on Thursday
All major averages finished higher on Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 345.09 points or 1.05%. The S&P 500 rose 1.75%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.59% to 10,478.09.
– Tanaya Macheel
CNBC Pro: Chip stocks have done poorly this year — but this fund manager is still bullish, names 2 to buy
Jobless claims rose last week; Pending claims are at their highest level since February
Jobless claims rose last week amid the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool the economy and especially the labor market.
First-time claims for unemployment benefits topped 225,000 in the week ending in December. This was reported by the Department of Labor on Thursday. That was an increase of 9,000 from the previous week and slightly above the Dow Jones estimate of 223,000.
Longer-term, ongoing claims, a week behind the headline count, rose 41,000 to 1.71 million, the highest level since early February.
Numbers are always noisy this time of year because of the holidays. Seasonally unadjusted claims rose 9.3% to 23,146.
– Jeff Cox
CNBC Pro: Citi Names Top Biotech Stock Picks for 2023 and 73% Up
According to Citi, biotech will remain a “stock picker’s market” in 2023.
The bank explains how biotech could work under different economic scenarios and names three top picks for 2023.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
– Weizhen Tan
