1. Asia-Pacific markets mostly fall as investors parse China inflation data, await Fed decision
Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell on Wednesday as investors parsed China’s inflation data and awaited the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision. Hong Kong Hang Seng index was 0.56% lower, and the mainland CSI 300 declined 0.78% after China’s consumer prices edged up 0.7% from a year earlier, its highest level since February last year. The increase followed a 0.2% rise in October and matched the 0.7% gain expected in a Reuters poll of economists. Factory-gate prices fell 2.2% in November from a year earlier, missing the forecast of a 2% decline and extending the deflationary stretch into its fourth year. That was compared with a 2.1% fall in October.
2. S&P 500 closes little changed ahead of Fed decision, JPMorgan weighs on Dow
The S&P 500 closed relatively unchanged on Tuesday as Wall Street looked ahead to this week’s interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve. The broad market index traded around the flatline, slipping just 0.09% to close at 6,840.51, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.13% to end the day at 23,576.49. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 179.03 points, or 0.38%, to finish at 47,560.29. The 30-stock index was dragged down by a decline in JPMorgan shares on higher-than-expected 2026 expense projections. Traders are waiting for the Fed’s highly awaited interest rate decision on Wednesday, which will be the last of the year. Markets are betting that the central bank will lower its key overnight lending rate by another quarter percentage point as it did at its meetings in September and October.
3. Gold rises ahead of Fed rate cut decision, silver hits $60/oz milestone
Gold prices hovered around $4,210 per ounce on Wednesday, remaining to trade within a tight range, as markets anticipated a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut later in the day while seeking clearer signals on the policy path through 2026. Most analysts expect a hawkish cut, with Chair Jerome Powell likely to signal caution on further easing amid persistent inflationary pressures. Fresh data showed resilience in the US labour market, with job openings extending a streak of stronger-than-expected readings, while ADP data indicated a rebound in private hiring in late November, which adds complexity to the Fed’s outlook. Meanwhile, central banks continued to be net buyers of gold, with China raising its reserves for a 13th consecutive month to about 74.12 million troy ounces.
4. Oil prices fall with Ukraine peace talks, US rate decision in spotlight
WTI crude oil futures hovered around $58 per barrel on Wednesday, holding onto most of their two-day slide, as persistent concerns over excess global supply continued to weigh on prices. Traders are now looking ahead to key reports from the IEA and OPEC later this week for clearer market signals. US energy officials projected that domestic oil output will rise to a record 13.6 million barrels per day this year, further adding to an already saturated global market. Investors are also closely watching diplomatic efforts to end the Russia–Ukraine conflict, which could reduce the geopolitical risk premium. Meanwhile, API data showed a 4.8-million-barrel decline in US crude inventories last week, while gasoline and distillate stockpiles rose sharply.
5.China consumer inflation hits near two-year high despite deeper-than-expected producer deflation
China’s consumer inflation climbed in November to hit its highest level in nearly two years, while producer price deflation deepened, underscoring the challenge policymakers face in reviving domestic demand amid persistent trade tensions. Consumer prices edged up 0.7% from a year earlier, its highest level since February last year, National Bureau of Statistics data showed Wednesday. The increase followed a 0.2% rise in October and matched the 0.7% gain expected in a Reuters poll of economists. Factory-gate prices fell 2.2% in November from a year earlier, largely because of a higher comparison base, missing the forecast of a 2% decline and extending the deflationary stretch into its fourth year The decline followed a 2.1% fall in October.
6. Trump ban on wind power projects overturned by federal judge
A federal judge on Monday struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping ban on new wind power projects in the U.S., a major victory for an industry that has been singled out by the White House since the administration’s first day. Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that Trump’s ban is “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law,” tossing out the president’s action in its entirety. Trump issued a memorandum on Jan. 20 halting permits and leases for offshore and onshore wind farms, pending federal review. Saris said that federal agencies had failed to provide a reasoned explanation for such a drastic change in U.S. policy. Seventeen states led by New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump in May to overturn the president’s ban. They argued it created “an existential threat to the wind industry.”
7. RBA leaves interest rates unchanged, sounds hawkish on inflation risks
The Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates unchanged as widely expected on Tuesday, and struck a hawkish note as it grapples with a resurgence in domestic inflation. The RBA left its cash rate target at 3.60%, the central bank said in a statement. The hold marked the RBA’s fourth consecutive meeting of leaving rates unchanged, after a cumulative 75 basis points of cuts so far in 2025. The central bank cited rising inflationary risks as the biggest motivator of the hold, which was a unanimous decision by the rate-setting board. “Recent data suggest the risks to inflation have tilted to the upside, but it will take a little longer to assess the persistence of inflationary pressures,” the RBA’s rate-setting board said in a statement. The board also noted that there were some uncertainties over inflation after the Australian Bureau of Statistics switched to a more comprehensive monthly data release for consumer price index inflation, starting from October.
8.China is buying U.S. soybeans again — but falling short of goal set by Trump trade agreement
China has resumed buying U.S. soybeans, but still lags goals set by a trade agreement with President Donald Trump, an NBC News analysis found. China previously was a top buyer of U.S. soybeans, but last spring stopped purchasing American soybeans because of a trade war launched by Trump. The country resumed purchasing soybeans in October after reaching a trade agreement with the United States. Under that deal, China promised to buy at least 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans during the last two months of 2025. But China has bought just 2.85 million metric tons of soybeans since Oct. 30, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data compiled by NBC News. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently said that China is on track to purchase 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans by the end of February. The Trump administration has said China would buy at least 25 million tons of soybeans in the next three years.
9. JPMorgan expects higher than expected 2026 expenses
JPMorgan Chase expects expenses to climb to about $105 billion in 2026, driven largely by growth and volume related costs, consumer and community banking chief Marianne Lake said on Tuesday. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Financial Services Conference in New York, Lake said strategic investments would be the second-biggest contributor to higher expenses, with the consumer and community banking unit accounting for a big part of that expense growth. Analysts, on average, expect JPMorgan’s expenses to total $100.84 billion next year, according to LSEG data. Shares of JPMorgan fell 4.3%, putting the stock on track for its biggest one-day drop since April 4. Lake said investment banking revenue is expected to be up by the low-single digit percentages in the fourth quarter, while it expects markets revenue to be up in the low-teens percentages in the fourth quarter.
10. Palantir wins US Navy contract to deploy AI system across submarine fleet
The U.S. Navy has struck a $448 million deal with Palantir Technologies to deploy a bespoke AI-driven maintenance and logistics platform dubbed ShipOS, initially focused on the U.S. submarine fleet. Navy Secretary John Phelan, joined by Palantir CEO Alex Karp, said on Tuesday the move aims to modernise supply-chain management, shorten maintenance cycles, and improve readiness for undersea vessels. Officials noted that early pilots reduced submarine schedule-planning time from roughly 160 manual hours to under 10 minutes, and slashed material review delays from weeks to under an hour. Phelan said the agreement will begin with submarine programmes but may later extend to other platforms, such as aircraft carriers and fighter jets.
11. Microsoft unveils $23 billion in new AI investments with big focus on India
Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled $23 billion in new artificial intelligence investments, with the bulk earmarked for India as the U.S. tech giant deepens its bet on one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets. CEO Satya Nadella said Microsoft would spend $17.5 billion in India in its largest investment in Asia, building on a $3 billion commitment announced earlier this year. The four-year spending plan starts in 2026 and would give Microsoft the largest cloud-computing presence in India. With around a billion internet users and deep tech talent, India has become a key destination for U.S. tech giants, which are investing billions of dollars to build AI infrastructure. Data centres are seen as the South Asian country’s best shot at breaking into the boom, given that it has limited chip-manufacturing capabilities.
12. Eli Lilly to build $6 billion Alabama plant as part of US manufacturing push
Eli Lilly said on Tuesday it will invest more than $6 billion in a new active drug ingredient manufacturing facility in Huntsville, Alabama, to expand U.S. production and bolster medicine supply chains. The site, the third new U.S. facility announced by Lilly, will make small-molecule synthetic and peptide medicines, including orforglipron, its first oral GLP-1 weight-loss drug anticipated to receive U.S. approval early next year. Global pharmaceutical companies have been increasing U.S. investments after President Donald Trump urged the industry to make more medicines domestically rather than importing active ingredients or finished medicines. Earlier this year, Lilly outlined plans to spend at least $27 billion on four new U.S. manufacturing sites to counter potential drug import duties. Lilly said another location will be announced in the coming weeks.
13. Top Indian arms makers held rare meetings in Russia on potential joint ventures, sources say
At least half a dozen executives from top Indian arms makers, including Adani Defence and Bharat Forge, attended rare meetings in Russia this year to discuss potential joint ventures, three people familiar with the matter said. The meetings took place during the first visit of India’s defence business leaders to Russia since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The visit by the defence business leaders had not previously been reported. The Indian government is seeking to re-orient its decades-old defence ties with Russia to focus on joint development of weapons. Any potential collaboration with Russia risks setting back plans by Indian defence firms to jointly develop Western arms as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to make India, one of the world’s biggest arms importers, a global manufacturing hub.
14. Elon Musk says DOGE ’somewhat successful’ but would not do it again
U.S. President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency was only “a little bit successful”, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on a podcast on Tuesday, adding that he would not lead the project again. The billionaire, who is founder of electric car company Tesla, was a major donor to Trump’s presidential election campaign and became a close ally and adviser to his administration. Musk led the DOGE team in seeking to slash the federal government’s budget and workforce in the first five months of Trump’s second term. But the role and his political rhetoric sparked a backlash against him and Tesla, including vandalism of Tesla cars. “I think instead of doing DOGE, I would have basically worked on my companies. And they wouldn’t have been burning the cars,” Musk said on the podcast with former Trump administration official Katie Miller.
15. GE Vernova working with US government to boost stocks of rare earth yttrium
Gas turbine maker GE Vernova is working with the U.S. government to increase its stockpiles of the rare earth yttrium, CEO Scott Strazik said on Tuesday, as China’s export controls of the vital element create shortages across energy, aerospace and semiconductors. GE Vernova – one of only three major makers of gas turbines globally – has yttrium inventories to last the rest of 2025 and into next year, Strazik said, although he did not disclose how long into next year supplies would last. The company is also investing in alternatives to replace certain rare earths used in production if it became necessary, although there were cost or performance trade-offs in some cases, he added. “We are very focused on it every day,” Strazik said in response to a question about yttrium shortages at an investor day on Tuesday. “We were a little bit successful. We were somewhat successful. We stopped a lot of funding that really just made no sense, that was entirely wasteful,” Musk said.