Asian markets, US FOMC minutes, PMI, RBNZ, RBA minutes, Australian wage prices

Equity markets have risen this year, but market watchers aren’t sure if this is just another bear market rally or the start of a new bull market.

Against this backdrop, Ghosh said investors should be “almost defensively offensive,” and he named three stocks he recommends.

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— Zavier Ong

The “revolution” in clean hydrogen is gaining momentum, according to investment bank Goldman Sachs, which pointed to some of the factors driving the boom.

It named these buy-rated stocks to play this theme.

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— Weizhen Tan

Here are the key events that Asia Pacific investors will watch this week.

The US Federal Open Market Committee will release minutes from its last meeting later in the week, which closes on Feb. 1.

On Monday, China will publish its 1-year and 5-year bond prime rates for February. Malaysia will report its trade data later today.

On Tuesday, private surveys will release purchasing managers’ indices in Australia and Japan. The US will also publish its PMI and New Zealand will publish its Q4 producer price index.

Investors will also be watching closely for minutes at the Reserve Bank of Australia’s latest interest rate decision meeting.

Japan will also publish its producer price index on Wednesday. Australia’s January composite leading index and the national wage price index for the fourth quarter will also be released on this day.

New Zealand will also announce its trade balance for January on Wednesday.

The Bank of Korea will announce its interest rate decision on Thursday morning. Economists polled by Reuters expect the central bank to pause and leave its benchmark rate unchanged. Singapore’s consumer price index for January will also be released.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will reportedly deliver a “peace speech” on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Reuters.

— Jihye Lee

Forward-looking economic data still points to a coming recession, though perhaps less so, The Conference Board reported Friday.

The board’s Leading Economic Index registered a 0.3% decline, in line with market expectations and at least relatively better than December’s 0.8% decline. On a six-month basis, the LEI is down 3.6%, compared to the 2.4% contraction in the previous period.

“While the LEI continues to signal a recession in the near term, indicators related to the labor market — including employment and personal income — remain robust so far,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, the Conference Board’s senior director of economics.

“The Conference Board still expects high inflation, rising interest rates and contracting consumer spending to push the U.S. economy into recession in 2023,” he added.

—Jeff Cox

“Markets have calmed down after an impressive start to the year, although the lack of reaction to inflation data or the “good news is bad news” mentality suggests a dramatic shift in the complexion of markets from last year said Mark Hackett, Head of the Year. of investment research at Nationwide in a Friday note.

He added that Friday trading will set the overall direction for the week — the S&P 500 is relatively flat through the week.

“Leadership has shifted to risky asset classes, with technology and small caps leading the way, and the Dow is underperforming the S&P 500 this year by its biggest backlog since 1934,” he said. Bond investors remain reactive, however, with 10-year yields rising this week by 0.16% to 3.90%, the highest level since November.

The shift is good news for bulls, who are looking at a narrative supported by a stronger-than-expected economy and a market less responsive to the economy, inflation numbers or rising interest rates.

—Carmen Reinicke

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said on Friday there is still a lot of work to be done before policymakers can feel they have inflation under control.

“I think there’s a long way to go before we reach our 2% inflation target and I think we should keep raising the federal funds rate until we see a lot more progress on that,” Bowman said during a performance in Tennessee. , according to Reuters

The comments come a day after regional presidents James Bullard of St. Louis and Loretta Mester of Cleveland said they had advocated a half-point rate hike at the last meeting, rather than the one-quarter-point step eventually approved.

This week’s data shows that inflation is on the rise again after declining in recent months.

“Late last year we saw some progress in lowering inflation, but some of the data we see early this year is not tracking with inflation consistently lowered in a way that I would like to see,” Bowman said.

—Jeff Cox