Asia-Pacific markets traded higher Friday, with several exchanges in the region closed for the Boxing Day holiday, while precious metals continued their rally for the year. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.47%, led by gains in tech stocks, while the Topix was up 0.27%. Among the top movers was tech giant SoftBank, which climbed 2.86%, snapping a three-session losing streak. Semiconductor testing equipment supplier Advantest advanced 2.65%, and chip equipment maker Lasertec added 1.57%. South Korea’s Kospi index added 0.53%, and the small-cap Kosdaq advanced 0.42%. Index heavyweight Samsung Electronics rose as much as 5%, recovering losses from the previous trading session.
Dow futures edged up 0.02%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed. In regular trading on Wednesday, US stocks advanced for a fifth straight session, with the S&P 500 rising 0.4% and the Dow gaining 0.7%, both at record highs, while the Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.3%. Investors are keeping their focus on current economic data to guide their earnings outlook for the upcoming year, following the GDP growth that exceeded expectations, the highest in two years. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims fell, raising hopes of a shift in interest rate decisions. Tech giant underperformed amid lingering concerns of exaggerated AI capital expenditure, with Intel falling0.5%, after reports that Nvidia halted a test that would use Intel equipment for advanced chips.
Gold prices rose to around $4,500 per ounce on Friday, after briefly hitting an all-time high of $4,530 earlier in the session, driven by safe-haven demand amid mounting geopolitical tensions and expectations of US interest rate cuts. Investor focus remains on the ongoing US blockade of crude shipments from Venezuela, continued hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, and a recent military strike by Washington against ISIS in Nigeria. Meanwhile, markets continue to price in two quarter-point rate cuts by the Federal Reserve next year as inflation cools and labour market conditions soften, even as Fed officials remain divided on the path ahead. Bullion has surged more than 70% so far this year, marking its largest annual gain since 1979,
WTI crude oil futures edged up to $58.5 per barrel on Friday, heading for a weekly gain, supported by geopolitical risks. Crude prices rallied earlier in the week after President Donald Trump intensified the US naval blockade of Venezuela, with the seizure of oil tankers as its latest strategy. While Venezuelan crude accounts for only a small share of global supply, it remains a vital source of revenue for the government. In Europe, fighting between Russia and Ukraine continues to target energy infrastructure. The U.S. Energy Information Administration is due to release official inventory data on Monday of next week, later than usual due to the Christmas holiday.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s cabinet on Friday approved a record $785 billion budget for the next fiscal year, aiming to strike a balance between her proactive fiscal policy and debt blowout concerns by limiting new bond issuance. Faced with rising government bond yields and a weak yen, the Takaichi administration has stepped up efforts to reassure investors that the government will not resort to irresponsible debt issuance or tax cuts. The budget for the year starting from April, to be submitted to parliament early next year, will total a record 122.3 trillion yen ($784.63 billion), exceeding this year’s initial budget of 115.2 trillion yen. Still, new government bond issuance will increase only slightly from this year’s 28.6 trillion yen to 29.6 trillion yen, with the debt dependence ratio falling to 24.2%, the lowest since 1998.
Core consumer inflation in Japan’s capital slowed in December on moderating cost pressure for food but stayed above the central bank’s 2% target, data showed on Friday, firming the case for further interest rate hikes. The data backs up the Bank of Japan’s view that core inflation will slide below its 2% target in coming months on easing cost pressure, before resuming a more demand-led increase that justifies additional rate increases. But some analysts warn of the risk renewed yen declines may prod firms to keep raising prices, leading to sticky, cost-led inflation that could quicken the pace of BOJ rate hikes. The Tokyo core consumer price index, which excludes volatile costs of fresh food, rose 2.3% in December from a year earlier, less than market forecasts for a 2.5% gain and slowing from a 2.8% increase in November.
U.S. firms are preparing to raise prices again in 2026 as they continue to recover the impact of higher tariffs, according to a survey. The survey results showed that “tariffs pushed nonlabor costs sharply higher over the past two quarters,” with firms initially responding by hiring less and seeing a hit to profits. However, in the third quarter, companies were able to pass on more of those costs. The bank said “per unit price rose by more than nonlabour costs, helping to restore profitability.” Survey data is now said to indicate that firms “plan to increase prices further in 2026, reiterating its framework that tariffs can be absorbed by exporters, U.S. corporates, or consumers. With supply-chain adjustments largely complete and exporters unlikely to absorb much more, it forecasts companies to continue passing through a sizable portion of tariff costs.
The United States carried out a strike against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of Nigeria’s government, President Donald Trump and the U.S. military said on Thursday, claiming the group had been targeting Christians in the region. “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. The U.S. military’s Africa Command said the strike was carried out in Sokoto state in coordination with the Nigerian authorities and killed multiple ISIS militants. An earlier statement posted by the command on X said the strike had been conducted at the request of Nigerian authorities, but that statement was later removed.
The death of a former head of China’s one-child policy has been met not by tributes but by castigation of the abandoned policy on social media this week. State media praised Peng Peiyun, head of China’s Family Planning Commission from 1988 to 1998, as “an outstanding leader” in her work related to women and children. The reaction on China’s social media to Peng’s death in Beijing on Sunday, just shy of her 96th birthday, was less positive. “Those children who were lost, naked, are waiting for you over there” in the afterlife, one person posted on China’s popular micro-blog Weibo. China’s near-universal mandate of just one child per couple from 1980 through 2015 prompted local officials to compel women to undergo abortions and sterilisations.
Sanofi said on Wednesday it will buy U.S. biotech Dynavax Technologies for around $2.2 billion (1.9 billion euros) in an agreed deal that will add an adult hepatitis B vaccine and a promising experimental shingles shot to its portfolio. The acquisition will help the French drugmaker diversify its vaccine business at a time when U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is remaking policy for childhood immunisation, industry analysts say. The Trump administration has dropped a long-standing universal recommendation for hepatitis B vaccination in infants, drawing an outcry from the medical community, and is considering other changes for 2026. Shares in Dynavax surged nearly 39% to $15.45 in U.S. trading hours on news of the deal. Sanofi shares eased 0.7%.
Packaged food makers and fast-food restaurants may be forced to overhaul more of their products next year as newly approved, appetite-suppressing GLP-1 pills become available in January, analysts say. More Americans are expected to try the drugs as a pill rather than as a shot because the medication will be cheaper and many patients are hesitant to inject themselves. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy GLP-1 pill on Monday, sending shares of food companies down on Tuesday. Eli Lilly’s rival medication is expected to gain approval from regulators next year. Food companies including Conagra Brands and Nestle are already dealing with shifts in consumer tastes toward higher protein and smaller portions due to the popularity of weight-loss injections, and analysts believe widespread GLP-1 adoption could mean long-term changes in demand.
Intel Corporation stock dropped 2% Wednesday after Reuters reported that Nvidia stopped testing Intel’s 18A chip manufacturing process. The stock opened as much as 3.9% lower before erasing some losses. Accordingly, Nvidia had been evaluating whether it could manufacture its chips using Intel’s advanced 18A production technology but decided not to move forward with the tests. An Intel spokesperson told Reuters that the company’s 18A manufacturing technologies are "progressing well," without providing further details about Nvidia’s decision to halt testing. Vital Knowledge analyst Adam Crisafulli acknowledged "negative" reports from Reuters recall but said that there were also positive headlines about Intel agreeing a manufacturing deal with Apple for certain chips. "Whether the Apple relationship is enough to make Intel’s foundry initiative viable remains to be seen," he said.