by November retail sales in China take a significant loss
China’s industrial production rose 2.2% in November after posting 5% growth in October, according to official data. It fell short of growth expectations of 3.6% in a Reuters poll.
Retail sales fell 5.9% year over year, exceeding expectations of a 3.7% drop in a Reuters poll and a 0.5% drop the previous month.
— Jihye Lee
JPMorgan expects Asian markets to end the week on a dovish tone after the Fed hike
JPMorgan expects markets in the Asia-Pacific region to end the week on a dovish note following the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike by 50 basis points.
“Given the US market’s reaction following the FOMC meeting, we expect Asian markets to end the week on a more dovish note,” Tai Hui, Asia-Pacific chief market strategist, said in a statement.
Tai added that a weaker inflation print is needed before the Fed’s slack fades, while the region may be more optimistic about China’s expected reopening.
“The medium-term outlook for China’s economic reopening and the resilience of Asian domestic demand could be a bright spot as the United States and Europe face greater growth challenges,” Tai said. “We would need weaker inflation data to allow the Fed to tone down its aggressiveness.”
— Jihye Lee
South Korea’s revised trade data shows a slightly smaller trade deficit
South Korea’s revised trade data for November was flat, official data from the Bank of Korea shows.
Imports grew 2.7% while exports fell 14%, in line with previous month’s readings, resulting in a trade deficit of $6.99 billion, slightly lower than the previous month’s reading of 7.01 billions of dollars.
Prices for imports rose 14.2% from a year ago, after posting 19.8% growth the previous month. Export prices rose 8.6% in November from a year ago, after rising 13.7% in October.
— Jihye Lee
Japan’s trade data beat estimates, signaling a larger-than-expected trade deficit
Japan’s exports and imports for November grew more-than-expected year-on-year, official data showed.
Exports for the month rose 20%, topping expectations by 19.8% in a Reuters poll. Imports rose 30.3%, also above expectations of 27% in a Reuters poll.
This resulted in a larger-than-expected trade deficit of 2.02 trillion yen ($14.91 billion) after posting 2.16 trillion yen ($15.96 billion) in the previous month.
— Jihye Lee
CNBC Pro: Missed China reopening rally? Bank of America appoints global stocks to ride stage two
Investors will get a second chance to take part in the stock market rally after China announced an easing of Covid-19 restrictions, according to Bank of America.
The bank named more than 10 stocks after it found “green shoots of recovery in high-frequency data” pointing to rising earnings of companies exporting to China.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
—GaneshRao
Unemployment rate in Australia in line with expectations
Australia’s unemployment rate for November remained at 3.5% year-on-year, in line with expectations from a Reuters poll and unchanged from the previous month.
Official data from the Australia Bureau of Statistics showed that the job participation rate also remained at 66.7% and the employment to population ratio remained at 64.4%.
Monthly hours worked increased to 1.89 billion.
— Jihye Lee
The Fed announces a 50-point rate hike
The Fed announced it will raise interest rates by 50 basis points, marking the end of the 75-point hike pattern seen in recent months.
Prior to this move, the Fed had hiked rates by 75 basis points in the past four meetings. One basis point equals 0.01%.
The 50 basis point hike was widely expected ahead of the meeting.
It is the final policy decision expected from the central bank in 2022.
— Alex Harring
Powell wants “substantially more evidence” that inflation is cooling down
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that recent positive signs for inflation are not enough to allow the central bank to slow interest rate hikes.
“It will take a lot more evidence to have confidence that inflation is on a sustained downward path,” Powell said during his post-conference news briefing.
The comments came as the Fed raised its key rate by another half percentage point and indicated that at least another three-quarter point hike was on the way. The decision also comes a day after the November consumer price index reading rose by just 0.1%, an indication that inflation may have peaked.
Still, Powell said inflation remains a problem.
“Price pressures remain evident across a broad range of goods and services,” Powell added.
—Jeff Cox
