East Asia

Wayne Cole gives us a look at what the future holds for European and global markets. The markets like it when there is a political event. Sanae Takaichi, Japan's first woman Prime Minister, blew the competition out of the water in the election. This sparked a rally of 4.5% in the Nikkei index to "all-time" highs. The index actually broke 55,000, 56, 000, and 57,000 in a single go. The LDP's best ever result was a resounding victory as it took 316 out of 465 seats at the lower house of parliament. Takaichi, together with its coalition partner Japan Innovation...

The global markets are set to experience their largest decline since mid-November. A stock rout in Wall Street has spread globally, and volatility is gripping precious metals as well as cryptocurrencies. AI concerns also weigh on the equities. The MSCI All-Country World Index rose 0.1% from intra-session lows, but was still on track to fall around 1.6% over the course of the week. Amazon, Microsoft and Meta are expected to spend $600 billion on artificial intelligence this year, fueling fears of its cost. Concerns about disruption in software and data services, as well as other sectors, have also continued. Is...

By Anna Szymanski Feb. 6 - What Mike Dolan, the ROI team and I are looking forward to reading, watching and listening to this weekend. From the Editor Hello Morning Bid readers! Investors have reevaluated what businesses are worth anything in an AI-driven world. The week started with a sale of some of the oldest forms of value in the world, such as gold and silver. The so-called "software-mageddon" is expected to wipe out roughly $1 trillion in market capitalization for the S&P 500 index of software and services this week. Anthropic's new tool, which could automate legal work, as...

Hengli Group, the parent company of China's Hengli Petrochemical, announced a new trading office for Hengli in Dubai. Hengli Group said in a message that the 'new office in Dubai will allow Hengli to allocate resources more efficiently and expand its market coverage. Hengli Group announced that Li Maohong will be in charge of the office. According to his LinkedIn profile, Li has been in charge of Hengli Singapore’s proprietary trading since the year 2025. He was previously a senior oil broker with state-run Sinochem and established Hengli Petrochemical International, Singapore in 2018. A source familiar with the expansion told...

Gregor Stuart Hunter gives us a look at what the future holds for European and global markets. There is no report on jobs for Friday. The markets are worried about the?non farm payrolls being delayed - yet again - by another U.S. shutdown and the global selloff on Wall Street. Following fresh signs of economic strain in the labor market, traders are increasing?betting? that the Federal Reserve will ease policy at its meeting. According to a survey by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the number of layoffs in the U.S. increased in January, reaching the highest monthly level...

Stella Qiu gives us a look at what the future holds for European and Global markets on February 5th: Investors were confident that the major U.S. tech firms would deliver a strong quarter with rosy forecasts. They increased their exposures ahead of this earnings season. This has proven to be a costly error. Google Alphabet Released It delivered solid results, but also surprised analysts when it announced that capital expenditures would be between $175 billion and $185 billion in this year - far above Wall Street's expectations. This only fueled fears about the?explosion of artificial intelligence investment. The valuations of...

MSCI's global equity gauge fell on Wednesday, with technology stocks leading the losses on Wall Street. The dollar rose broadly after the latest U.S. data on economic growth and silver outperformed the gold price following their recent drop. Oil prices rose for the second day in a row as U.S.-Iran appeared to be at odds on certain elements of their nuclear talks plan, which is expected to take place on Friday. Tuesday, crude prices spiked after the U.S. shot a drone carrying an Iranian flag and armed boats approached U.S.-flagged vessels in a key waterway. Investors reacted to economic data...

MSCI's global equity gauge fell on Tuesday, with technology stocks leading the losses on Wall Street. The dollar rose broadly after the latest U.S. Economic data. In precious metals, silver outperformed the gold following a recent drop. Prices of oil?were slightly lower. Oil prices spiked Tuesday, after the United States shot a drone belonging to Iran and armed boats approached an American-flagged ship in a major waterway. U.S. Treasury Yields initially lost some steam following ADP's National Employment Report, which showed a slower-than expected growth in January. Private employment increased by 22,000 after a downwardly-revised 37,000 job increase in December,...

Rae Wee gives us a look at what the markets will be like in Europe and the world today. The European Central Bank will announce its rate decision on Thursday, but the markets will be able to gauge the market's mood based on the preliminary Eurozone inflation data released on Wednesday. Consumer prices are expected to have eased to 1.7% on an annual basis last month. This is comfortably below the ECB’s 2% goal as the price pressures have dissipated. The central bank has reason to'stay on hold'. The latest data shows that German inflation rose unexpectedly slightly in January....

The Kremlin stated?on? Tuesday that it had not heard any statements from India regarding the halting of purchases of Russian oil? after U.S. president Donald Trump claimed New Delhi had agreed in a trade agreement with Washington to cease such purchases. U.S. president Donald Trump announced on Monday a trade deal with India, which reduces U.S. tariffs from 50% to 18% on 'Indian goods in exchange for India ceasing its purchases of Russian oil and lowering trade barriers. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesman, said that Russia is?carefully analyzing Trump's remarks about relations with India. Peskov responded: "We haven't heard anything...

Tom Westbrook gives us a look at what the future holds for European and global markets. The trade took on a more stable tone during the 'Asia session' on Tuesday. Metals prices stabilized and stocks recovered from the gold-and silver-led crash on Monday. Rebounds were sharp in Tokyo and Seoul, and Indian shares cheered the deal announced by U.S. president Donald Trump on Truth Social. The agreement would lower tariffs on Indian products in exchange for India ceasing to purchase Russian oil. There were no solid details about the timing, and there was little information on the deal. However, it...

The mood was lifted by the resurgence of gold and Asian stocks on Tuesday, as the trade tone cooled down after the wild swings seen in the metals market. A?deal reducing U.S. Tariffs against India also helped. Meanwhile, the Australian Dollar rose 'after an interest rate increase. The central bank of Australia joined Japan in tightening policy. It said that above-target inflation, coupled with a tight labour markets, justified the unanimous decision to raise the cash rate by 25 basis points. The markets had anticipated this move but are now trying to price in the follow-up for May, which was...

Argentine Foreign minister?Pablo Quirno said that a deal between Argentina and 'the U.S. on critical minerals signed this week doesn't rule out Chinese investments?into the mining sector of the country. As of today, this does not mean that China will or cannot invest in Argentina. Quirno stated at a press briefing that China has made investments in Argentina in the form of minerals. The agreement was announced following a meeting in Washington of over 50 countries where U.S. Vice President JD Vance suggested a trading block for critical minerals. On Thursday, the two countries finalized their reciprocal trade agreement and...

The price of copper rose above $13,000 per ton, ending two days of declines. Investor sentiment also improved as prices became more affordable. Benchmark three-month Copper on the London Metal Exchange was trading 0.8% higher at $13,001 a ton by 1700 GMT. It had earlier fallen as much as 2.9%, to $12,528. Red metal reached a session high of $13,037.50, and was on track to end the week with a loss of 1.2%. It had fallen 10.5% since a record-high price of $14,527.50 set on January 29, 2010. Broker Marex stated in a report that a merchant bid on copper...

Itochu, Japan's largest retailer, posted a record-breaking 4% increase in its nine-month net profits through December 31st, to 705.3 billion dollars. This was a result of strong consumer businesses, such as food, textiles and the convenience store chain. The trading house's food unit saw a 38% increase in profit to 82.5 billion Japanese yen, up from 60 billion last year. This was due to higher banana sales and production, as well as growth of the packaged foods division at Dole agriculture. Tsuyoshi Hachimura, Chief Financial Officer of the company, said at a press conference that "core profits in non-resources sectors...

Muyuan Foods shares closed slightly higher on Friday in Hong Kong, following the world's largest pig breeder. raised HK$10.7 Billion ($1.4 Billion) in a share sale This is the largest city-wide event so far in this year. The shares of the firm opened at HK$39 per share, matching their initial offer, and ended 3.9% higher, at HK$40.52, after trading between HK$38.98 and HK$41.72, with 40.59 millions shares worth HK$1.63billion changing hands. The benchmark Hang Seng Index ended 1.2% lower. This is the biggest share sale in Hong Kong in recent memory, surpassing Zijin Gold International $3.5 billion in September. Dickie...

The Singapore contract fell below $100 for the first time in November 2025. This is part of a broad commodities decline triggered by the fall of Wall Street tech stocks. The May contract for iron ore, the most traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange(DCE), ended daytime trade at 760.5 Yuan ($109.59) per metric ton. The contract ended the week 3.53% lower. As of 0722 GMT, the benchmark March iron ore traded on the Singapore Exchange had fallen 1.26% to $99.35 per ton. Iron?ore has fallen 4.28% this week and is set to have its 'fourth consecutive week of declines. After...

Canada's Capstone Copper announced on Friday that its largest union at the Mantoverde copper and gold mine in?Chile approved a three-year contract. This ended a strike which began on January 2, and allowed production to resume normal. The Australian-listed shares of the miner fell by?3.9%, to A$15.430. This is their lowest level since January 23. The agreement brings an end to the labour strike which had reduced production in the?mine by about 55%. Capstone announced that it had?now negotiated new contracts for all four unions on the site. This allows the company to resume its full operations. Union No. Union...

The price of copper fell again on Thursday as rising stocks and a stronger dollar weighed down the prices. As of 1731 GMT, the benchmark three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was down 1% to $12,917.50 a metric ton. Copper fell by as much as 2 percent to $12,783 earlier this week. Industrial metals also joined the broader sell-off across all asset classes. Silver, for example, lost around 13% due to a stronger dollar and an easing of U.S. China trade tensions. Dollar-denominated commodities become more expensive to holders of currencies other than the dollar. LME copper stocks...

Iron ore futures fell on Thursday as inventories were high, indicating a steady production of blast furnaces. The most traded May iron ore contract at China's Dalian Commodity Exchange ended the daytime session down 1.73%, closing at 768.5 Yuan ($110.72), a metric tonne. This was?the fourth consecutive session of decline. As of 0707 GMT, the benchmark March iron ore on the Singapore Exchange had fallen by 1.71% to $100.75 per tonne. Data from the Shanghai Metals Market, released on Wednesday, showed that the blast furnace utilization rate increased slightly, and daily hot metal production increased by?21,000 tonnes week-on-week. Iron ore...

According to two sources familiar with the matter, Nippon Steel Japan is looking at selling as much as 500 billion dollars ($3.2 billion) in convertible bonds. This would be a major transaction in Japan. Sources said that the steelmaker was considering making a decision this month. They declined to be named because the information isn't public. Is reporting the potential issue for the first time. Nippon Steel didn't immediately respond to our request for a comment. According to LSEG data, at 500?billion yen the convertible bond issuance would be largest of its type in Japan. One of the sources stated...

The copper price fell on Wednesday as traders downplayed Chinese plans to increase strategic reserves. This was due to a stronger dollar, and a rise in metal availability at the?exchange. Benchmark three-month Copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 3% to $13,065.50 per metric tonne by 1700 GMT. It was just above the 21 day moving average which provides technical support at $13,048. Since speculators began buying gold and silver in greater quantities, copper has dropped 10%. This is despite analysts warnings about weak demand, increasing stockpiles, and the possibility of higher supplies. Anant Jatia, an investment manager who specialises...

On Wednesday, the United States and Mexico unveiled a plan for developing a coordinated trade policy to?mitigate vulnerabilities in critical supply chains of minerals. This could include possible price floors on certain mineral imports. The plan does not mention China or its chokehold over the processing of these minerals. Instead, it calls on both nations to consult about including price floors into a binding multilateral agreement on trade. Separately Vice President JDVance announced plans on Wednesday to marshal allies to a preferential?trade?bloc in order to secure supply chains vital to advanced manufacturing. U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer stated that the...

Idemitsu Kosan, a Japanese oil refiner, announced on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with Australia's Graphinex and Marubeni, a trading house, to create a Japan-Australian supply chain for graphite-based materials. Idemitsu stated that the four companies are aiming to reduce procurement risk for Japan's batteries industry and strengthen supply-chain reliability across Asia. Anode materials are in high demand due to the global increase of electric vehicles and renewable energy storage. Japan is heavily reliant on graphite imports, so ensuring a stable supply of this material is a major challenge. China has the largest graphite deposits in the world...