(May 14): Stocks in Asia were primed to rally Thursday after a US tech rally drove new highs on Wall Street, quelling concerns over inflation that have fueled wagers the Federal Reserve will keep rates higher for longer.
Equity index futures for Japan, China and South Korea were all higher early Thursday in Asia. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% Wednesday while the Nasdaq 100 climbed 1% as tech outperformed. In late hours, Cisco Systems Inc gave a solid outlook, supporting the bullish tech theme.
A drop in oil also helped sentiment on Wednesday, while a US$25 billion sale of 30-year bonds saw investors snagging 5% yields on those maturities for the first time since 2007.
Megacaps led gains in the S&P 500, with chiefs from Nvidia Corp, Tesla Inc and Apple Inc joining President Donald Trump’s business delegation to China. An index of the dollar was fractionally higher Wednesday, while gold fell for a second session.
US stocks are hovering near record highs despite growing concern that the war in Iran will keep inflation elevated and weigh on the global economy. Investors have been balancing renewed price pressures against strong corporate earnings and optimism that AI-driven spending will continue to support economic growth and fuel gains in equities.
President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing for the first state visit to China by a US leader in nine years, as the world’s two largest economies look to stabilize ties with a summit playing out against the backdrop of the Iran war.
See also: Stocks pare losses, bonds drop on US inflation
Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People on Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, back-to-back US inflation reports this week have shown mounting price pressures, pushing traders to boost wagers on a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in the coming year. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasuries rose to the highest since July.
US wholesale inflation accelerated in April to the fastest pace since 2022 on a war-driven increase in energy prices that’s feeding into higher freight transportation costs. The producer price index rose 6% from a year ago, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data out Wednesday, eclipsing economist estimates and coming in after a hot consumer price readout.
See also: Asian stocks decline, led by Korea, oil climbs
“One takeaway is that companies are not passing through costs to consumers across the board just yet,” noted Chris Low at FHN Financial. “But company input costs are sharply higher, which obviously increases pressure to pass through costs in future.”
Separately, the Senate narrowly confirmed Kevin Warsh as chair of the Fed, setting up the most controversial leadership transition at the US central bank in decades and a test of its political independence.
First-quarter profits at S&P 500 companies have surged 27% so far, more than double the roughly 12% analysts had expected — the fastest year-on-year earnings growth outside of recoveries from major shocks since 2004.
The bullish run for US stocks may extend should a recovery in earnings and still-low positioning outweigh the threat from higher bond yields, said Max Kettner at HSBC Holdings plc.
Morgan Stanley strategists are turning more positive on US equities in a bet that profits and a strong economy will keep the bull market running. The team led by Mike Wilson expects the S&P 500 to reach 8,300 in the next 12 months. The gauge is currently trading near 7,444.
“Resiliency in earnings data despite geopolitical risk, private credit concerns and AI disruption is supportive of our view,” Wilson said.
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