Bank of Korea, Australian Trade Statistics, Nihon Keizai Shimbun

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has given the green light to Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S., which could lead to similar approval in Asia.

“It is clear that the ripple effects of the approval of a Spot Bitcoin ETF in the US will be felt across Asia, where countries like Hong Kong also appear to be close to adopting similar products.” said Antoni Trenchev, founder and managing partner. Asset company Nexo.

These moves will allow retail investors to trade the world’s most popular cryptocurrency.

”It will be interesting to see what sense of FOMO the SEC approval creates among other Asian jurisdictions. We don’t want anyone to be left behind in the race to become a global digital hub,” Trenchev said.

Asian markets rose across the board on Thursday, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index up 2% and Hang Seng Tech Index up 2.72%.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

The Bank of Korea kept its standard lending rate unchanged for the eighth consecutive time on Thursday.

South Korea’s central bank kept its policy interest rate unchanged at 3.50%, in line with economists’ forecasts compiled by Reuters. Investors are currently waiting for Governor Lee Chang-yong’s press conference at around 11:10 am Korean time.

Inflation in the country is showing signs of easing, with consumer prices rising 3.2% last month.

The Bank of Korea aims to reduce the inflation rate to 2% by the end of 2024 or early 2025.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

U.S. electric car giant Tesla has long been a darling of investors, but Chinese rival BYD is increasingly coming into its own.

BYD dethroned Tesla as the world’s top EV maker in the fourth quarter and produced more cars than Tesla for the second year in a row in 2023, according to data released by both companies last week.

Should investors stick with perennial favorite Tesla, or buy into upstart BYD?

The pros say:

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Tan Weizhen

2024 has only just begun, but AllianceBernstein is already expecting a “good year” for the travel industry.

“There are many reasons for optimism. Demand data remains strong, with both leisure and corporate travel expected to increase year-on-year. There is scope for continued recovery even as conditions change. (Group, APAC, Company)[orate] The impact on occupancy and interest rates will be moderated as the supply outlook remains subdued,” the investment bank’s analysts wrote.

They are committed to use in hotels and online travel agencies and have named their top picks that are available across hotels and online travel agencies.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amara Balakrishna

Stock market investors and analysts are estimating the near-term contribution of artificial intelligence tools to corporate profits and anticipating the pace of policy easing this year by the longtime Wall Street strategist and economist. , jumped to reality. He spoke on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Wednesday.

“We’re not only seeing investor enthusiasm, but we’re certainly seeing analyst enthusiasm,” Yardeni said. “They dramatically increased their earnings expectations for NVIDIA,” resulting in the company’s forward P/E ratio falling from the 80s to the 20s. “But look, this is a hot stock and will probably remain a hot stock as long as the AI ​​works. It will take a little more time for the AI ​​to be as effective as the market seems to be expecting. I think it will cost a lot.”

Yardeni said Nvidia’s performance in the 2020s is reminiscent of Cisco System’s actions in the 1990s. “The problem is that the market gets irrationally excited about how much it can accomplish in a very short period of time,” Yardeni said of AI’s contribution to revenue. “And we’re concerned about something like a parabolic meltup.”

Additionally, Yardeni said investors expect the Federal Reserve to cut rates too much in 2024. “I’m in the camp that says we’re not going to go into a recession, and I’ve been saying that for three years in a row, but I’m also in the camp that believes there will probably be two or three rate cuts this year.” The market is discounting that. It’s not for four or five years, but for the second half of this year. ”

— Scott Schnipper

New York Fed President Williams said Wednesday that while inflation statistics are moving in the right direction, he expects monetary policy to remain restrictive.

“My base case is that the current restrictive monetary policy stance continues to restore equilibrium and return inflation to our long-term target of 2%,” influential central bank officials said in a prepared speech. Ta.

“While we expect that we will need to maintain a restrained policy stance to fully achieve our goal, reducing the degree of policy restraint will only occur once inflation is on track toward 2%. “Only if we are confident that there is. It’s a sustainable basis,” he added.

Williams added that the risk for the Fed remains “two-sided,” that it could cut rates too soon and risk higher inflation, or that it could hold on for too long and hurt the economy. Ta.

—Jeff Cox

The stock market ended 2023 on a high note, with the S&P 500 up 24.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 13.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index up an impressive 43%.

However, HSBC believes that global equities are currently outpacing their fundamentals.

“Strategically, we remain positive on the stock market, but we expect stock price increases to come to a temporary halt,” the company said. “Global stock markets have outperformed machine learning (ML) models’ predictions by 10% over the past three months.”

The bank said stock valuations could be vulnerable to hawkish signals from the Fed and upside to inflation because “markets are increasingly priced for perfection.”

HSBC added that of all equity sectors, consumer staples, energy and healthcare currently look the most attractive. Regionally, this extends to China, UAE and Switzerland.

— Lisa Kailai Han

After a strong year-end rally in 2023, the market will see some, albeit limited, upside in 2024, according to Barclays.

Emmanuel Cau, equity strategist at Barclays, said: “We expect the stock market to rise in 2024, but be more subdued.” After an unusual year-end rally, the bar for positive surprises has been raised, and cyclical stocks are “It looks like things are looking up,” he said.

Barclays expects shares to move towards “healthy consolidation” after a rapid rise. Mr Kau added that valuations and earnings could create upside potential.

“Absent a deep recession, the US-based rate cuts seem too strong, but I agree that the direction is towards lower interest rates,” Kaw said.

— Ha-Kyung Kim