This is CNBC’s live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.
Asia-Pacific stocks were set for declines Wednesday after a mixed session, with markets watching for moves in electric vehicle makers.
Tesla’s first-quarter vehicle deliveries dropped 8.5% from a year ago, sending shares of the U.S. EV maker down 5%. Chinese EV maker BYD said first-quarter sales plunged 43% quarter-over-quarter.
Investors will also monitor data on China’s service sector.
Declines on Wall Street also hit sentiment as stubborn inflation figures last week and strong economic data Monday pushed Treasury yields higher and reduced odds of the U.S. Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in June.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is set to open lower, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,685 and its counterpart in Osaka also at 39,685 against the index’s last close of 39,838.91.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 16,907, pointing to a marginally lower open after the index ended more than 2% higher at 16,931.52.
U.S. & World
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5%, extending its declines from the previous session.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for a second day as bond yields rose and expectations that the Fed would cut interest rates in June fell.
The Dow closed nearly 400 points, or 1% lower, while the S&P 500 slid 0.72%. It was the worst day since March 5 for the Dow and the S&P 500. The Nasdaq Composite shed 0.95%.
— CNBC’s Pia Singh and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.
CNBC Pro: Feeling FOMO over Reddit or Truth Social? Here’s another way to cash in on meme stocks
From the GameStop frenzy of 2021 to the recent surge in Reddit and Truth Social shares, many investors likely have a fear of missing out (FOMO) on these seemingly lucrative opportunities.
However, for investors that cannot stomach the risks linked to meme stocks, there are less volatile ways to capitalize on the trading phenomenon, investor says., according to Hannah Gooch-Peters, Global Equity Investment Analyst at Sanlam Investments.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about those stocks here.
— Ganesh Rao
CNBC Pro: ‘A fantastic market’: Strategist names one under-the-radar stock to play in Japan right now
Several investors have been looking favorably at Japanese stocks in the past few months – and market strategist Matt Orton is no exception.
“Japan overall, has been a fantastic market … Japan was the top performer within the Asian equity market complex,” the chief market strategist at asset management firm Raymond James Investment Management, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on April 1.
One lesser known name stands out to him as a good play right now.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Amala Balakrishner
Fed’s Mary Daly still expects three interest rate cuts in 2024
Mary Daly, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, speaks during an event at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., on July 10, 2023.
San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly said Tuesday that she still expects three interest rate cuts this year, though it is not a certainty.
“I think that is a very reasonable baseline but I would like to say here that this is projection, right?” Daly said during a panel discussion in Las Vegas. “Three rate cuts is a projection, and a projection is not a promise.”
Daly, a voter this year on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, also noted that she was not swayed either way by a report Monday showing the manufacturing sector in March expanded for the first time in 16 months. Instead, she said she and her fellow policymakers are looking at a broad range of indicators.
“There is a path in my mind where interest rates start to adjust this year. We’re just not there yet,” she said.
— Jeff Cox
Energy ETF reaches highest point in almost 10 years
Energy stocks globally are reaching new highs amid rising oil prices. On Tuesday, the iShares Global Energy ETF (IXC) rose 0.9% to hit its highest level since September 2014.
Among the companies in the exchange-traded fund that reached new 52-week highs on Tuesday include PetroChina, Canadian Natural Resources, ConocoPhillips and Marathon Petroleum.
— Hakyung Kim
