4 hours ago
Malaysia is expected to keep interest rates at 3%
The Malaysian central bank kept its overnight interest rate on hold at 3%, in line with expectations of economists polled by Reuters.
The current interest rate is the highest policy rate since November 2019. The central bank noted that the country’s headline inflation has eased further on lower cost drivers.
It added that Malaysia’s core inflation had also weakened but “remained elevated compared to long-term averages on sustained demand and cost factors.”
Headline inflation for Malaysia was 2.8% in May, while core inflation – which excludes more volatile food and fuel prices – was 3.5%.
— Lim Hui Jie
7 hours ago
Hong Kong stocks of Chinese banks fall on Goldman’s downgrade
Hong Kong-listed Chinese bank shares were among the biggest losers in the Hang Seng index after Goldman Sachs reportedly downgraded its ratings on the mainland’s largest lenders.
Goldman Sachs downgraded the rating of the Agricultural Bank of China to sell from neutral and downgraded the ratings of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Industrial Bank to sell from buy, Reuters reported.
Hong Kong-listed shares in the Agricultural Bank of China fell nearly 2%, while the ICBC fell 2.4%. Bank of Communications fell 1.54%.
The report added that Goldman cited investors’ concerns about banks’ exposure to local government debt, earnings risk and the disparity in asset positions among banks.
9 hours ago
Australia’s May trade surplus widens more-than-expected
Australia’s May trade surplus was A$11.79 billion in June, up from A$11.15 billion in April.
The figure also beat expectations of economists polled by Reuters, who expected the surplus to shrink to A$10.5 billion.
Government data showed that imports of goods and services to Australia rose 2.5% mom in May, while exports rose 4.4%.
— Lim Hui Jie
10 hours ago
Foxconn revenue falls 14% in the second quarter, but the outlook for the third quarter is improving
Electronics maker Foxconn’s shares fell 0.92% after the company posted a 14% drop in revenue in the second quarter compared to the same period last year
Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, posted sales of 1.3 billion New Taiwan Dollars (US$41.76 billion) in the second quarter.
However, the company is more optimistic about the coming year, saying that “as the peak season is currently in the second half of the year, operations will gradually ramp up.”
Revenue is expected to increase in the third quarter compared to the second quarter, and Foxconn said the growth rate is expected to be around the same level as before the pandemic.
11 hours ago
The Malaysian central bank expects interest rates to remain stable
Economists polled by Reuters showed that the Malaysian central bank is expected to keep its overnight interest rate stable at 3%.
Earlier, Bank Negara Malaysia hiked interest rates by 25 basis points from 2.75% in its May monetary policy meeting.
The economy’s consumer price index rose at a slower-than-expected 2.8% in June, after peaking at almost 5% in August last year.
– Jihye Lee
11 hours ago
CNBC Pro: Investors are ‘too complacent’: Deutsche Bank strategist names two ways to hide from a potential downturn
According to Maximilian Uleer from Deutsche Bank, investors have become “too complacent” in the calm before a possible storm on the stock markets.
Uleer, head of European equities and cross-asset strategy at the German multinational lender, said historically low volatility is a key concern as it indicates growing complacency in the market.
The strategist also identified two ways investors could “cheaply” protect themselves from a possible downturn.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
– Ganesh Rao
11 hours ago
CNBC Pro: These funds have outperformed in the first half of the year — and here are their favorite stocks
According to Morningstar, these are the top-performing actively managed equity funds over the first half of the year.
According to FactSet, CNBC Pro also highlighted the stocks most commonly included in these funds’ top holdings with potential upside and buy recommendations.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
– Wheat Tan
17 hours ago
Fed minutes show central banks expecting more rate hikes
A summary of the central bank’s June meeting showed that the Federal Reserve expects to raise interest rates further from current levels, albeit at a slower pace than expected.
“Many [officials] also noted that following the rapid tightening of monetary policy over the past year, the Committee had slowed the pace of tightening and that further moderation of the pace of monetary tightening was appropriate to gain additional time to monitor the impact of the cumulative tightening and its implications evaluate for politics,” it said in the minutes.
— Fred Imbert, Jeff Cox
16 hours ago
The likelihood of the Fed raising interest rates by a quarter point in less than three weeks is even more certain
The likelihood that Federal Reserve policymakers will raise their federal funds rate by another quarter point to between 5.25% and 5.50% at their next meeting on July 26 has increased following the release of minutes from their June meeting on Wednesday even closer to a sure thing. according to the CME FedWatch tool.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the probability that the Fed will cut rates in July rose to 88.7% from 81.8% a week ago, according to rates traders. The probability of rates remaining unchanged fell to 11.3% from 18.2% last week.
Nearly three-quarters, or 73.2% of interest rate traders expect the policy rate to be between 5.25% and 5.50% by the close of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting on Sept. 20, up from 69.1% last Week. The probability that rates will be half a point higher at 5.50% to 5.75% by the end of the September meeting is now 17.7%, little change from 16.4% a week ago is equivalent to.
— Scott Snapper
17 hours ago
As the minutes show, the Fed sees better chances for a soft landing
Federal Reserve officials still see a recession as the most likely baseline scenario for the US economy, but at the last meeting there was growing optimism that a true ‘soft landing’ could be achieved.
“However, given continued good labor market conditions and the resilience of consumer spending, staff saw an opportunity that the economy continued to grow slowly and that a slowdown is just as likely to be avoided as the baseline of a mild recession,” the minutes read.
– Jesse Pound
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