Asia-Pacific markets climbed Monday as investors parsed China’s central bank’s decision to keep its loan prime rates steady. The People’s Bank of China kept its 1-year and 5-year loan prime rates unchanged at 3% and 3.5% respectively, holding them for a seventh straight meeting, in line with a Reuters survey. The one-year rate influences most new and outstanding loans, while the five-year benchmark affects mortgages. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.55%, while the mainland CSI 300 advanced 0.95% to close at 4,611.62. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.91% to end the trading day at 8,699.9. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.81% to 50,402.39 while the Topix was 0.64% higher at 3,405.17. The Bank of Japan raised its policy rate by 25 basis points to 0.75% —a three-decade high— last Friday.
The S&P 500 rose on Monday, supported by a rise in artificial intelligence names, to start a shortened holiday week. The broad market index gained 0.64% to reach 6,878.49, posting its third positive day in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 227.79 points, or 0.47% to finish at 48,362.68. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.52% to 23,428.83. Key stocks linked to artificial intelligence offered a boost to the broader market. Nvidia shares moved higher by more than 1% after Reuters said the company is looking to begin shipments of its H200 chips to China by mid-February. Meanwhile, Micron Technology grew around 4%, while Oracle advanced more than 3%.
Gold prices climbed to a fresh record above $4,480 per ounce on Tuesday, marking the 50th record-breaking session this year, driven by expectations of looser US monetary policy and mounting geopolitical tensions. Markets are currently pricing in two quarter-point rate cuts by the Federal Reserve next year, amid signs of easing inflation and a cooling labour market. Investor attention is now turning to the second estimate of third-quarter GDP, due later today, which could provide further insight into the health of the US economy and the likely path of Fed policy. Safe-haven demand has also been supported by rising tensions between the US and Venezuela, as Washington intensified its naval blockade of the region with the seizure of a second oil tanker on Saturday and the active pursuit of a third.
WTI crude oil futures hovered around $57.9 per barrel on Tuesday, following four consecutive sessions of gains, as traders remained focused on heightened geopolitical risks. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US is actively pursuing a third oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela and will retain both the oil and the vessels seized recently. While Venezuelan crude exports account for less than 1% of global oil supply, they remain a critical source of revenue for Nicolas Maduro government, making any disruption significant even if the broader supply impact is limited.
China on Monday announced tariffs of up to 42.7% on dairy products from the European Union, following the results of an anti-subsidy investigation that began in August 2024. In a statement by the country’s Ministry of Commerce, China said that EU subsidies for dairy products had caused “substantial damage” to China’s domestic dairy industries. The tariffs are set to take effect on Dec. 23, the ministry said, and the rates would be determined by the amount of “ad valorem subsidy rates” from the country’s Customs Tariff Commission. The tariffs range from 21.9% to 42.7%, with companies “who cooperated with the investigation” subject to tariffs of 28.6%, and those that “did not cooperate” facing the top rate of 42.7%, according to a statement from a Commerce Ministry official.
The Trump administration on Monday halted Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, the largest project of its kind in the U.S., as well as four other projects under construction off the East Coast in a devastating blow to the wind industry. Shares of Dominion Energy, the utility developing the Virginia project, dropped nearly 4% on the news. The administration also paused leases for Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts, Revolution Wind off Rhode Island, Sunrise Wind off Long Island and New England, and Empire Wind 1 south of Long Island. The projects taken together would provide enough power for more than 2 million homes, according to statements from the developers. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the administration paused leases for the projects due to national security concerns identified by the Pentagon.
Japan has a free hand in dealing with excessive moves in the yen, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Tuesday, issuing the strongest warning to date on Tokyo’s readiness to intervene in the currency market to arrest sharp declines in the currency. "They absolutely do not reflect fundamentals," Katayama told a news conference on the yen’s declines after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s news conference last week. "I don’t believe they would have gone that far unless there were speculative moves. The government will take appropriate action against excessive moves," based on Japan’s agreement with the U.S. in September on exchange-rate policy, she said. The remarks mostly echo those she made in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday. The yen rose to around 156 per U.S. dollar on Katayama’s remarks on Tuesday, though it wasn’t too far from the 11-month low of 157.78 touched on Friday.
Australia’s central bank this month considered whether a rise in interest rates might be needed in 2026 given a recent pickup in inflation, but felt it would take a "little" time to know for sure. Minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s December policy meeting showed its board judged inflation risks had increased following surprisingly high readings for consumer prices in October and the third quarter. However, some of the lift in inflation could be due to volatile factors and it would be important to see figures for the fourth quarter due in late January. "Members discussed the circumstances in which...an increase in the cash rate might be needed to be considered at some point in the coming year," the minutes showed.
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has stepped in to personally guarantee $40.4 billion in Paramount Skydance’s latest effort to pry Warner Bros Discovery away from selling its prized Hollywood assets to streaming giant Netflix. The guarantee, disclosed in a filing on Monday, seeks to allay the Warner Bros board’s doubts about Paramount’s financing and the lack of full Ellison family backing, which had pushed it toward the competing cash-and-stock offer from Netflix. Warner Bros shares closed up 3.5%, while Paramount added over 4%. Warner Bros said it will review and consider Paramount’s revised terms, adding that board is not modifying its recommendation with respect to the Netflix deal. Netflix did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss pill on Monday, giving the Danish drugmaker a leg up in the race to market a potent oral medication for shedding pounds as it looks to regain lost ground from rival Eli Lilly. The pill is 25 milligrams of semaglutide, the same active ingredient in injectable Wegovy and Ozempic, and will be sold under the brand name Wegovy. Novo already sells an oral semaglutide for type 2 diabetes, Rybelsus. The approval could help spur a turnaround for Novo after a rocky year of sliding shares, profit warnings and slowing sales of its injectable Wegovy amid intense competition from Lilly and pressure from compounded versions. A 64-week, late-stage study showed participants who took 25 mg of oral semaglutide once daily lost an average of 16.6% of their body weight, compared with 2.7% for those on a placebo.
A group of nine U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth urging the Pentagon to add a slew of Chinese technology firms to a list of entities allegedly assisting the Chinese military. The letter, sent late on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a $1 trillion must-pass military spending bill into law, asks Hegseth to place AI firm DeepSeek, smartphone maker Xiaomi and electronic display maker BOE Technology Group on what is known as the Section 1260H list. That list includes major Chinese firms such as Tencent Holdings, one of China’s largest tech companies, and CATL, a major battery maker in the electric vehicle industry. While the 1260H list does not formally impose sanctions on Chinese firms, it sends a message to suppliers to the Pentagon and other U.S. government agencies about the U.S. military’s opinion of the firms, some of which have sued the U.S. over their inclusion.
Uber and Lyft said on Monday they were teaming up with Chinese tech giant Baidu to launch driverless taxi trials in the UK next year, reinforcing the country’s role as Europe’s leading testbed for commercializing robotaxis. As part of the partnerships, Baidu’s Apollo Go RT6 vehicles will join the London networks of the ride-hailing platforms in 2026, marking the first direct competition between U.S. and Chinese autonomous giants in a European capital, following Alphabet-owned Waymo’s recent start of supervised tests in the city. The UK’s emergence as a global sandbox is fuelled by the Automated Vehicles Act 2024, which provides a legal framework for liability that currently eludes the more fragmented European Union.