Nikkei 33-year high, Australia inflation

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index set new 33-year highs on Tuesday, after the index surged over 2% and surpassed the 34,000 mark for the first time since March 2, 1990.

The gains were powered by health technology and consumer services stocks. The top gainer on the index was electronics and ceramics manufacturer Kyocera Corporation, which climbed 6.17%

Other top performers include medical specialties maker Olympus Corp, as well as Daiichi Sankyo, the second largest pharmaceutical company in Japan.

Exports from the Philippines dropped 13.7% year on year in November, marking a third straight month of declines.

However, this decline was smaller than the 17.5% fall recorded in the month before.

Imports rose 0.02% in November, marking a reversal from the 4.4% decline in October.

The country’s trade deficit in November widened for a second straight month to $4.69 billion, a 26.3% increase year on year.

— Lim Hui Jie

Australia consumer price index rose 4.3% year on year in November, its smallest increase since January 2022 and lower than the 4.9% recorded in October.

The figure was also slightly below the 4.4% expected by economists in a Reuters poll.

The country’s statistics bureau said the most significant contributors in November were housing, insurance and financial services, as well as alcohol and tobacco.

The inflation rate is a key consideration for the country’s central bank when it decides on monetary policy.

— Lim Hui Jie

Stocks within the artificial intelligence theme have been getting a lot of love from analysts recently — including those at Bank of America.

In a Jan. 2 note, the investment bank highlighted opportunities among what it calls “key AI suppliers,” naming its top stock picks with significant upside potential right now.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

South Korea’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate climbed to a 23-month high of 3.3% in December, up from 2.8% in November.

Data from the country’s statistics bureau revealed that the number of unemployed persons increased by 78,000 to 944,000, or 9% year on year.

The employment-to-population ratio stood at 61.7% in December, up 0.4 percentage point year on year.

— Lim Hui Jie

2023 was a great year for stocks, boosted by the artificial intelligence boom and hopes of an end to rate hikes.

After such a strong showing, investors might be asking themselves if it’s time to take profit.

There are still a number of uncertainties. The U.S. Federal Reserve might have signaled rate cuts in 2024, but also indicated an “unusually elevated degree of uncertainty” about the policy direction.

CNBC Pro asked experts for their take on whether investors should cash out — and if so, how to do it and when.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Shares of Juniper Networks jumped more than 23% in premarket trading Tuesday, continuing to rise after the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday evening that cloud-services provider Hewlett Packard Enterprise is in “advanced talks” to acquire the company for about $13 billion.

A deal between the two companies could be announced as soon as this week, the Journal reported. The acquisition could bolster HPE’s efforts to challenge Cisco, which has long competed with Juniper in the networking equipment market.

Juniper’s stock price underperformed the tech industry last year, losing about 8%. HPE added nearly 10%, on the other hand.

— Pia Singh, Jordan Novet

Oil prices bounced back Tuesday after yesterday’s selloff.

The West Texas Intermediate futures contract for February rose $1.47, or 2.08%, to settle at $72.24 a barrel. The Brent futures contract for March gained $1.39, or 1.76%, to trade at $77.46 a barrel.

The two benchmarks settled more than 3% lower on Monday after Saudi Arabia slashed crude prices to Asian customers by $2 a barrel, heightening fears about global demand.

“Volatility is high and if you don’t like the price just stick around,” Phil Flynn with the Price Futures Group wrote in a note Tuesday morning.

Flynn said prices are bouncing back Tuesday because the selling yesterday was “out of balance.”

Geopolitical risk also persists as tensions rise in the Middle East and Libya’s largest oilfield remains shut down.

The U.S. trade deficit declined by a greater than expected margin in November as the goods shortfall with both Europe and China fell.

In a report Tuesday, the Commerce Department said the goods and services deficit decreased to $63.2 billion, a drop of $1.3 billion, or 2%, from October. The move mirrored lower shortfalls in both imports and exports on the month. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a deficit of $64.7 billion.

The goods deficit with the European Union decreased to $15.6 billion and to $21.5 billion with China.

—Jeff Cox