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Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday after Japan reported its exports rose nearly 10% in December, although stocks fell in Tokyo.
US futures and oil prices rose slightly.
Chinese stocks continued their upward trend after China Securities Regulatory Commission Vice Chairman Wang Jiangjun called for better protection for investors and confidence in the profit potential of markets that have faltered in recent months.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 2% to 15,569.39, helped by gains in technology companies such as e-commerce giant Alibaba, which rose 3.8%.
The Shanghai Composite Index recovered from early losses to rise 1.8% to 2,820.77.
Japan's exports rose nearly 3% in 2023 while imports fell 7%, resulting in a trade deficit of 9.2 trillion yen, preliminary customs data showed, a sharp decline from the 20.3 trillion deficit reported last year Yen.
However, economists predict that the revival in export growth will be short-lived.
“Looking forward, we expect export growth to slow this year as pent-up foreign demand for Japanese goods weakens,” Gabriel Ng of Capital Economics said in a commentary.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo lost 0.8% to 36,226.48, also on renewed speculation that the Bank of Japan is heading for a change to its long-accommodative monetary policy that has flooded markets with plenty of cash.
In South Korea, the Kospi fell 0.4% to 2,469.69.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1% to 7,519.20.
India's Sensex lost 0.1% while the SET in Bangkok gained 0.2%.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 climbed to another record as earnings reporting season for major U.S. companies gathered pace.
The index rose 0.3% to 4,864.60. The Nasdaq Composite also rose 0.4% to 15,425.94. But the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3%, a day after breaking above 38,000 for the first time. It ended at 37,905.45.
Procter & Gamble rose 4.1% after reporting higher profit than analysts expected in its latest quarter.
United Airlines rose 5.3% after the company also reported higher profits than analysts expected for the final three months of 2023. The company reported higher sales to customers on both basic economy and premium seats, but warned it could lose money in the first three months of this year due to the grounding of its Boeing 737 Max 9 planes.
Earnings season is picking up steam and more than a dozen companies in the S&P 500 released their latest quarterly results on Tuesday morning. More than 50 more are expected to follow later this week, including Tesla and Intel.
Headlines on Tuesday included Verizon Communications, which rose 6.7% after beating analysts' earnings estimates. General Electric also beat expectations, although its shares fell 1% after the company gave profit guidance for this quarter that fell short of analysts' forecasts. Housebuilder DR Horton fell 9.2% after reporting weaker-than-expected profit.
Analysts have forecast companies in the S&P 500 to deliver weaker overall earnings per share than last year, which would be the fourth such decline in the past five quarters, according to FactSet. Still, stocks have risen to record highs on expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates several times this year.
Such cuts can drive up investment prices while easing pressure on the economy and financial system.
Treasury yields have already fallen sharply since the fall on expectations of coming rate cuts, although critics warn that traders may be exaggerating again in their forecasts of how many rate cuts will come and how soon the Fed will begin them.
In other trading on Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 18 cents to $74.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Tuesday it sold 39 cents.
Brent crude, the international standard, rose 18 cents to $79.73 a barrel.
The US dollar fell to 147.76 Japanese yen from 148.38 yen. The euro rose from $1.0855 to $1.0870.
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