Asia-Pacific markets fell Monday, after Wall Street declined Friday stateside as investors took a breather from the AI trade. Traders in Asia will also look toward key data from China, which will release its retail sales, fixed asset investment and industrial output numbers for November. South Korea’s Kospi fell 2.16% while the small-cap Kosdaq was 1.17% lower. Index heavyweights’ memory chipmaker SK Hynix was down over 4%, while Samsung Electronics declined 3.3%. Japan announced its fourth-quarter Tankan numbers. The index for business optimism among large Japanese manufacturers increased to +15 for the fourth quarter, hitting the highest level in four years. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.66%. On Sunday, the country suffered its worst gun attack in over 30 years that left at least 15 dead. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 1.3%, while the Topix declined 0.27%.
U.S. equities pulled back on Friday as investors continued to exit technology stocks and move into value areas of the market. The S&P 500 fell 1.07% to end the day at 6,827.41, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.69% to 23,195.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 245.96 points, or 0.51%, to settle at 48,458.05 after scoring a new intraday all-time high earlier in the session. The Russell 2000 index slid 1.51% to 2,551.46 but had also hit a fresh all-time high during the trading day.
Gold prices climbed to around $4,320 per ounce on Monday, approaching an all-time high, as investors awaited a series of key US economic releases this week for further clues on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate trajectory. Attention will mainly be on the jobs report due on Tuesday and the inflation data on Thursday. Last week, the Fed delivered its third 25bps rate cut of the year. However, the decision was not unanimous, with three policymakers dissenting, and opinions remain divided on the potential scope of further easing in 2026. Two Fed officials who opposed the cut said on Friday that inflation remains elevated and that it would have been “more prudent” to wait for additional data before reducing rates.
WTI crude oil futures rose to $57.6 per barrel on Monday, but remained close to their lowest level in nearly two months amid persistent concerns about oversupply, while investors monitor developments surrounding a new round of Ukraine peace negotiations. President Volodymyr Zelensky met with US President Donald Trump's top envoys on Sunday for two days of talks focused on a US-backed proposal to end the war with Russia. Despite the diplomatic efforts, hostilities on the ground have continued, with Ukrainian drone strikes hitting oil depots and refineries across several Russian regions. Elsewhere, the US has intensified military presence in Venezuela, a key oil exporter, as President Trump ramped up pressure on the country. Meanwhile, Iran said it had seized a foreign tanker in the Gulf of Oman over alleged fuel smuggling.
China’s economic slowdown deepened in November with consumption, investment and industrial output growth falling short of expectations, as authorities sought to curb supply while struggling to revive demand and arrest the property sector decline. Retail sales rose 1.3% last month from a year earlier, sharply missing Reuters’ median forecast for a 2.8% growth, and slowing from 2.9% rise in the prior month. Industrial production climbed 4.8% in November from a year ago, missing expectations for a 5% jump and marking its weakest growth since August 2024. Investment in fixed assets, which includes property, contracted 2.6% over the January through November period compared with a year earlier, sharper than the 2.3% drop estimated by economists.
India’s consumer inflation rose to 0.71% in November, accelerating from an all-time low of 0.25% in the prior month. The headline inflation number was in line with estimates of a 0.70% rise in the consumer price index, according to a Reuters poll of economists’ median estimates. The rise in consumer inflation was due to rises in the price of vegetables, eggs, meat and fish, spices and fuel, the government said in its Friday release, adding that fuel and light prices rose 2.32% in November compared to 1.98% in October. The Reserve Bank of India expects consumer inflation at 2% for fiscal year ending March 2026, down from 2.6% forecast in October. It estimates CPI at 2.9% in the three months to March, rising to 4.0% in the quarter ending September 2026.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he has narrowed his search for a new Federal Reserve chair to two people and he should at least be consulted on decisions about interest rates, in what would be an unusual development. Trump said he is leaning toward either former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh or National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett to lead the Fed next year. "I think you have Kevin and Kevin. They’re both - I think the two Kevins are great," Trump said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal in the Oval Office. Trump said he thought the next Fed chair should consult with him on where to set interest rates, the WSJ reported. Presidents typically leave rate decision-making up to the Fed. "Typically, that’s not done anymore. It used to be done routinely. It should be done," Trump said. "It doesn’t mean - I don’t think he should"
Indonesia expects to complete tariff talks with the United States by the end of the year, its chief negotiator said on Friday, with a delegation set to visit Washington next week to resume them. Talks had appeared at risk of collapse this week after the United States accused Jakarta of backtracking on prior commitments, although Indonesia said their "dynamics" were normal and it was just a matter of "harmonising the language". The timeline for conclusion of talks followed a video call on Thursday between senior economic minister Airlangga Hartarto and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the tariffs. "We agree to complete what has been agreed upon in the leaders’ declaration on July 22," Airlangga told an economic forum, adding that a non-disclosure pact kept him from giving details. Asked if the United States had sought inclusion of a requirement for Indonesia to inform it of future trade deals with other countries, Airlangga said, "It is an agreement that is not with Indonesia."
Broadcom’s quarterly results and guidance sailed past Wall Street estimates. It didn’t matter. The chipmaker’s shares plummeted 11% on Friday, their worst day since January, as investors ran for the exits on the artificial intelligence trade. Oracle dropped 4.5% a day after plunging 10% following its earnings report. Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, the two leading makers of graphics processing units for AI workloads, slid about 3% and 5%, respectively. CEO Hock Tan said Broadcom expects AI chip sales this quarter to double from a year earlier to $8.2 billion, both from custom AI chips as well as semiconductors for AI networking. One concern among investors is that margins are coming down, at least in the short term, due to higher up-front costs. CFO Kirsten Spears said on the earnings call that “gross margins will be lower” for some of Broadcom’s AI chip systems because the company will have to buy more parts to produce the server racks.
Nvidia has told Chinese clients it is evaluating adding production capacity for its powerful H200 AI chips after orders exceeded its current output level, according to two sources briefed on the matter. The move comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the U.S. government would allow Nvidia to export H200 processors, its second-fastest AI chips, to China and collect a 25% fee on such sales. Demand for the chip from Chinese companies is so strong that Nvidia is leaning toward adding new capacity, one of the sources said. They declined to be named as the discussions are private. Major Chinese companies including Alibaba and ByteDance have already reached out to Nvidia this week about purchasing the H200 and are keen to place large orders, Reuters reported on Wednesday. However, uncertainties remain, as the Chinese government has yet to greenlight any purchase of the H200.
SpaceX executives have started the process of selecting Wall Street bankers to advise it on a potential initial public offering, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Investment banks will make their initial pitches for the IPO in the coming weeks, which recent reports said could value SpaceX at over $1 trillion. Founder and CEO Elon Musk had confirmed reports on an IPO last week. The WSJ reported on Friday that SpaceX told its employees it was preparing for a potential IPO. The company is a key contractor of space technology for the U.S. government, and has also recently found success with its Starlink satellite internet business.
Dell is set to increase prices across its commercial product lines starting December 17, according to an internal document sent to staff on Monday and viewed by Business Insider. The price hikes will affect Dell’s commercial business, which sells to corporate clients and represents approximately 85% of the company’s annual revenue in its Client Solutions Group (CSG), the division responsible for laptop and PC sales. In some cases, computer prices will increase by hundreds of dollars, the internal document shows. The price increases are attributed to an industry-wide shortage of memory and storage chips, driven by soaring demand for AI infrastructure as tech companies purchase large quantities of these components. The shortage is affecting the entire PC industry, with competitors like Lenovo and HP also experiencing rising costs.
China’s new home prices extended declines in November, official data showed on Monday, indicating that a recovery in demand remains elusive despite the government promising to stabilise the sector. Prices fell 0.4% month-on-month, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics data, compared with a 0.5% decline in October. On an annual basis, home prices fell 2.4% in November, steeper than the 2.2% drop the previous month. China’s property market has been mired in a downturn since mid-2021, fuelled by declining sales, a liquidity crunch for developers, and falling home prices, which have eroded household wealth and dampened consumption. China’s top leaders have repeatedly pledged to stabilise the housing sector, as that would boost overall household consumption, which in turn helps the $19 trillion economy reduce its reliance on exports and government-led investment.
A United Airlines flight bound for Tokyo was forced to return to Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia on Saturday afternoon after experiencing an engine failure during departure, the Federal Aviation Administration said. A United spokesperson said the flight landed shortly after take-off due to the loss of power in one engine. There were no reported injuries among the 275 passengers and 15 crew members aboard, the spokesperson said. Photographs and videos posted to the social media site X showed smoke billowing from near the runway at Dulles, which is located about 25 miles (40 km) from Washington, D.C., and the closest international airport to the U.S. capital. The FAA said it will investigate the incident on United Flight 803, which involved a Boeing 777-200 aircraft.