This is CNBC’s live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.
Asian markets climbed Monday as investors awaited trade talks between Washington and Beijing later in the day, with focus also on key China data.
Trade tensions are seemingly easing between the world’s top two economies as China has reportedly granted temporary approvals for the export of rare earths, while jetliner Boeing Co has begun commercial jet deliveries to the Asian superpower.
China is slated to release a slew of data, including its consumer and wholesale inflation readings for May. Economists polled by Reuters expect consumer prices to have fallen by 0.2% year on year, while PPI is forecast to have declined by 3.2% from a year earlier.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 advanced 0.95% in early trade, while the broader Topix index rose 0.72%.
In South Korea, the Kospi index climbed 1.73% while the small-cap Kosdaq added 0.66%.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 23,801 pointing to a marginally higher open compared to the HSI’s Friday close of 23,792.54.
Australian markets are closed for a public holiday.
U.S. equity futures were mostly flat in early Asian trade.
All three key benchmarks on Wall Street jumped last Friday, after the non-farm payrolls data came in better-than-expected.
U.S. payrolls climbed 139,000 in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, above the Dow Jones forecast of 125,000 for the month but less than the downwardly revised 147,000 in April.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average popped 443.13 points, or 1.05%, to close at 42,762.87. The blue-chip index was up more than 600 points at its highs of the session.
Meanwhile, the the broad-based S&P 500 also gained 1.03% — surpassing the 6,000 level for the first time since late February — and settling at 6,000.36, while the Nasdaq Composite rallied 1.20%, to end at 19,529.95.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.
Trump urges Powell to cut interest rates by a full point despite solid jobs report
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and U.S. President Donald Trump.
President Donald Trump called on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday to cut interest rates by a full percentage point, even as May’s nonfarm payrolls report exceeded expectations.
“‘Too Late’ at the Fed is a disaster! Europe has had 10 rate cuts, we have had none. Despite him, our Country is doing great,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Go for a full point, Rocket Fuel!”
As it stands, traders are pricing in essentially no chance of any rate cut in June following the Fed’s next meeting later in the month, according to CME’s Fedwatch tool.
— Kevin Breuninger, Jeff Cox
