1. Stocks Rise on Fed Cut Bets; Dollar Stabilizes: Markets Wrap
Asian stocks rebounded from last week’s selloff as muted US inflation helped reignite Federal Reserve rate cut bets. The dollar steadied after a retreat. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index snapped a six-day decline, with benchmarks in South Korea and Taiwan rising more than 1%. US equity contracts climbed after the so-called core personal consumption expenditures price index increased at the slowest pace since May, spurring a 1.1% rise in the S&P 500 Index on Friday.
2. Dow closes nearly 500 points higher on cooler inflation data, but index posts third straight losing week
The Dow Jones Industrial Average bounced on Friday to close out a tough week that saw the index plunge 1,100 points in a single day and complete its longest losing streak since the 1970s. Some cooler-than-expected inflation data helped fuel the session’s rebound. The 30-stock Dow gained 498.02 points, or 1.18%, to 42,840.26. The S&P 500 added 1.09% to end at 5,930.85, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.03% and closed at 19,572.60. November’s reading of the personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric, increased 2.4% year over year. That was a tad less than economists expected and helped defuse some of the bearishness that arose earlier this week when the Fed said it would dial back future rate cuts in part because of stubborn inflation. All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 ended the day higher, with real estate and information technology among the biggest gainers. Just 53 stocks in the broad market index closed lower on Friday.
3. Oil prices firm on hopes of U.S. policy support for economic growth
Oil prices inched higher on Monday, along with other risk assets, after U.S. data showed cooling inflation, reviving hopes of further policy easing next year that will support global economic growth and oil demand. Brent crude futures rose 26 cents, or 0.4%, to $73.20 a barrel by 0141 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 31 cents, or 0.5%, to $69.77 per barrel.
4.Gold prices edge higher on short covering
Spot gold edged higher on Monday, supported by short covering after a weekly loss on Friday due to the Federal Reserve’s cautious stance on rate cuts in the upcoming year. Spot gold was up 0.2% to $2,626.44 per ounce, as of 0313 GMT. U.S. gold futures eased 0.1% to $2,642.10. The Fed’s 25-basis-point reduction on Dec. 18 and the cautious note struck by its economic projections and expectations of fewer cuts in 2025 pushed gold to its lowest since Nov. 18 last week.
5. Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin wants a meeting as soon as possible about the war with Ukraine
Trump said Sunday Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his interest in a meeting regarding the war with Ukraine. “President Putin said that he wants to meet with me as soon as possible,” Trump said during his remarks at Turning Point’s America Fest convention.
6. Murdoch’s News Corp to sell Foxtel to Britain’s DAZN for $2.1 billion
News Corp and telco Telstra have agreed to sell their Australian cable TV and streaming company Foxtel to British sports platform DAZN, valuing the struggling business at A$3.4 billion ($2.1 billion), including debt. As part of the deal, shareholder loans valued at A$578 million outstanding will be repaid in full and Foxtel’s current debt will be refinanced at closing. News Corp will hold a 6% stake in DAZN and Telstra will own 3% of the London-headquartered global streaming platform backed by billionaire Len Blavatnik. Foxtel has weighed on News Corp profit for years as the number of people who pay monthly subscriptions for its broadcast content switched to cheaper streaming options like Netflix. The company has itself launched a streaming service charging less than its traditional service.
7. Qatar vows to stop EU gas sales if fined under due diligence law, FT reports
Qatar will stop shipping gas to the EU if member states strictly enforce a new law cracking down on forced labour and environmental damage, Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times in an interview published on Sunday. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, approved this year, requires larger companies operating in the European Union to check whether their supply chains use forced labour or cause environmental damage and to take action if they do. Penalties include fines of up to 5% of global turnover.
8. Novo Nordisk A/S’s shares tumbled 20.7%, the most on record, after a failed attempt to leapfrog rival Eli Lilly & Co. in the red-hot market for obesity drugs
NoVo’s experimental obesity shot CagriSema helped patients lose an average of 20.4% of their weight over 68 weeks, short of the 25% weight loss that Novo had repeatedly predicted for its next-generation product. The study results were roughly in line with the performance of Eli Lilly’s Zepbound shot, which is already on the market and competes with existing Novo treatment Wegovy. Lilly is also working on a next-generation medicine, called retatrutide, which helped people lose up to about 24% of their weight in a mid-sized study last year. The results may suffice for approval for CagriSema, but they leave Novo with issues positioning the drug in the market, Simon Baker, an analyst for Redburn, said. “They sought a superior result to Lilly and got one that is the same,” Baker said. Novo said it will start another trial in the first half of next year to help find out how best to boost patients’ doses. The company expects to seek regulatory approval for CagriSema toward the end of next year, a spokeswoman said. NoVo’s existing blockbusters mimic the gut hormone GLP-1, and CagriSema adds a second mode of action. The extra compound, called cagrilintide, works in a similar way as another gut hormone called amylin. Both the old and the new medicines suppress the appetite, though taking amylin has been described as a gentler experience than a GLP-1 drug, helping people stay satisfied for longer instead of wiping away their drive to eat.
9. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. purchased Occidental Petroleum Corp. shares for the first time in six months
Berkshire bought $409 million of stock in the oil producer in recent days as the shares declined below his previous lowest purchase price following a drop in crude. Occidental shares rose 3.9%. Berkshire, which now owns about 28% of the company, was sitting on an unrealized loss of $2.2 billion in its common stock holdings before its most recent purchases, according to calculations based on data compiled by Bloomberg. Even after today’s gain, Occidental is the fifth-worst performing member of the S&P 500 Energy Index this year as investors fret about its debt levels ahead of an anticipated period of low oil prices. Still, Buffett’s investment is a show of confidence in Chief Executive Officer Vicki Hollub, who took on debt to help fund the $10.8 billion purchase of private Permian Basin producer Crown Rock LP earlier this year. Buffett’s purchase is a surprise to the market, Leo Mariani, an analyst at Roth Capital Partners, said. The consensus was he had scaled up to where he needed to be and was content to hold. But clearly, he thinks the shares have been oversold.
10. Carnival Corp.’s initial outlook for 2025 bolstered confidence that record levels of cruise demand will continue into the new year
Adjusted net income will be about $2.3 billion next year, more than 20% higher than in 2024, the company said. Analysts had expected $2.36 billion. Insatiable vacation demand drove Carnival to record revenue this year and is showing no signs of slowing down. The company has already booked more trips for the upcoming year at this point than any comparable period, and is doing so at higher prices as supply remains limited. That interest is even stretching into 2026. With nearly two-thirds of 2025 already booked, we are expecting another year of strong yield improvement, outpacing historical growth rates, Chief Executive Officer Josh Weinstein said. Share prices across the cruise industry jumped on the news, with Carnival rising 6.4%.
11. United States Steel Corp. warned its fourth-quarter earnings will be lower than anticipated as steel prices remain depressed in the US and as the demand environment in Europe is weak
Shares of the company fell 5% as the steelmaker said it expects adjusted earnings before items of about $150 million, well below the $261.7 million average estimate. The warning comes after Nucor Corp., the largest American steel producer, forecast lower than expected earnings on decreased volumes. Domestic benchmark steel prices are down 40% this year as demand for the alloy has waned across building and construction to appliances.
12. Qualcomm Inc. prevailed at trial against Arm Holdings Plc’s claim that it breached a license for chip technology that the world’s largest maker of mobile-phone processors acquired when it bought a startup in 2021
Jurors in federal court in Delaware concluded Friday that Qualcomm didn’t violate the terms of an agreement covering Arm’s chip products acquired in a $1.4 billion purchase of Nuvia Inc. by incorporating the technology in its chips without paying a higher licensing rate. Jurors weren’t able to agree on whether Nuvia breached the license and US District Judge Maryellen Noreika said that issue could be retried at a later date. Qualcomm is one of Arm’s biggest customers and a longtime partner, but the companies have grown increasingly at odds as they’ve become rivals in the computer-processor industry. The dispute is important because many of the world’s largest tech companies rely on chip architecture licensed from Arm and incorporated into Qualcomm’s products, ranging from computers to cars. Qualcomm gained about 1.8% in afterhours trading Friday, while Arm declined about 1.4%. Arm said it intends to seek a retrial.
13. Core PCE inflation eases, Capital Economics sees strong U.S. economy
Capital Economics, a leading economic research firm, on Friday reported that the real economy remains robust as inflation pressures appear to be subsiding. The core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, which excludes food and energy, saw a modest month-over-month increase of 0.11% in November, marking the smallest rise in the past six months. This followed two consecutive months of approximately 0.25% increases, which were above the Federal Reserve’s target rate. The November data brought the three-month annualized core inflation rate down to 2.5% from 2.8%, although the six-month rate saw a slight uptick to 2.4% from 2.3 %.
14. Hong Kong consumer prices rise 1.4% in November
The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) has announced that Hong Kong’s overall consumer prices increased by 1.4% in November 2024 compared to the same month last year, maintaining the same rate recorded in October. When excluding the impact of the government’s one-off relief measures, the underlying inflation rate also remained stable at 1.2%. For the three-month period ending in November, the average monthly increase in the Composite Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 0.1%, consistent with the previous three-month period. Once again, the underlying rate showed a slight variation, with a corresponding rate of 0.1% compared to 0.2% in October.