Asia-Pacific markets started the week higher after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams signalled a third-rate cut was a possibility this year. On Friday, Williams suggested the Fed could lower its key interest rate as labor market weakness poses a bigger economic threat than higher inflation. The Fed has just one meeting left for 2025, which will take place on Dec. 9-10 stateside. The target rate is currently at 3.75% to 4.00%. Fed funds futures are pricing in around a 70% chance of a quarter-percentage-point cut, according to the CME FedWatch tool, up from about 44% during the week through Nov. 14. Last week, Asian markets declined across the board as traders fled from tech stocks, with heavyweights like Softbank, Samsung Electronics and Baidu falling.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounded on Friday after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams suggested the central bank could cut interest rates yet again this year. The blue-chip index gained 493.15 points, or 1.08%, to close at 46,245.41. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.88% to settle at 22,273.08, while the S&P 500 finished 0.98% higher at 6,602.99. “I view monetary policy as being modestly restrictive, although somewhat less so than before our recent actions,” Williams said in remarks for a speech in Santiago, Chile. “Therefore, I still see room for a further adjustment in the near term to the target range for the federal funds rate to move the stance of policy closer to the range of neutral, thereby maintaining the balance between the achievement of our two goals.”
Gold prices fell to around $4,040 per ounce on Monday, extending Friday’s decline, as investors awaited more US economic data for clearer signals on the Federal Reserve’s policy outlook. Attention will mainly be on September's retail sales and PPI figures due on Tuesday, along with weekly jobless claims on Wednesday. Expectations for a December rate cut have shifted after Fed President John Williams signaled support for another reduction in the near term. Markets are now pricing in roughly a 70% probability of a 25bps cut next month, compared to around 40% last Thursday following the release of strong jobs data.
Oil prices slipped Monday, extending losses from last week, as Russia-Ukraine peace talks edged closer to a solution and the U.S. dollar strengthened. Brent crude futures fell 14 cents, or 0.22%, to $62.42 per barrel at 0148 GMT. West Texas Intermediate was down 15 cents, or 0.26%, at $57.91 a barrel. Both crude benchmarks were down about 3% last week and hit their lowest settlements since October 21, as market participants worried that a Russia-Ukraine peace deal could lift sanctions on Moscow and flood the market with previously sanctioned supply. The threat of more oil coming to the market and uncertainty regarding U.S. interest rate cuts have also suppressed investors’ appetites.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday the U.S. was not at risk of entering a recession in 2026 and claimed Americans would soon benefit from the Trump administration’s economic policies on trade and taxes. “I am very, very optimistic on 2026,” Bessent said in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “We have set the table for a very strong, noninflationary growth economy.” Parts of the GOP’s massive spending package — the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act — are still going into effect and have yet to be felt in the economy, Bessent said. The new law makes permanent Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, along with a senior “bonus” to offset Social Security taxes and a bigger state and local tax deduction. The plan also has tax breaks for tip income, overtime pay and auto loans. Health-care costs are also expected to become more affordable, Bessent added. The secretary said the Trump administration would have more news on that subject this week.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said it was “shocking” for Japan’s leader to openly send a wrong signal concerning Taiwan, according to an official statement on Sunday, the latest remarks in a row that has shaken relations for more than two weeks. Wang, the most senior Chinese official to have commented publicly on the issue, said Japan was crossing a red line that must not be touched, according to the statement posted on the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website. He accused Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of attempting to intervene militarily over Taiwan. Wang was referring to comments on Nov. 7 in which she told a questioner in parliament that a hypothetical Chinese attack on democratically governed Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.
U.S. officials and lawmakers are increasingly concerned about a meeting last month in which representatives of the Trump administration met with Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian envoy who is under U.S. sanctions, to draft a plan to end the war in Ukraine, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The meeting took place in Miami at the end of October and included special envoy Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Dmitriev, who leads the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), one of Russia’s largest sovereign wealth funds. A close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitriev has taken a leading role in talks with the U.S. about the war and has met with Witkoff several times this year. The Trump administration has issued a special waiver to allow his entry, one senior U.S. official said.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency has disbanded with eight months left to its mandate, ending an initiative launched with fanfare as a symbol of Trump’s pledge to slash the government’s size but which critics say delivered few measurable savings. "That doesn’t exist," Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told Reuters earlier this month when asked about DOGE’s status. It is no longer a "centralized entity," Kupor added, in the first public comments from the Trump administration on the end of DOGE. The agency, set up in January, made dramatic forays across Washington in the early months of Trump’s second term to rapidly shrink federal agencies, cut their budgets or redirect their work to Trump priorities.
Kohl’s Corp is expected to appoint Michael Bender as its permanent chief executive as early as Monday, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing a person familiar with the matter. The board interviewed several candidates before opting to appoint Bender, according to the report. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Kohl’s did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Michael Bender could not be immediately reached for a comment on the role change. In May, the struggling department-store retailer fired former CEO Ashley Buchanan after an investigation uncovered his undisclosed personal relationship with a vendor whose deals he had aggressively pursued, barely 100 days into the role. Buchanan’s firing in May was the third CEO change in three years for Kohl’s, hit by falling sales from online and big-box rivals, plus its own missteps.
Eli Lilly hit $1 trillion in market value on Friday, making it the first drugmaker to enter the exclusive club dominated by tech giants and underscoring its rise as a weight-loss powerhouse. A more than 35% rally in the company’s stock this year has largely been driven by the explosive growth of the weight-loss drug market. In the last two years as new, highly effective obesity treatments hit the market, the category has emerged as one of the most lucrative segments in healthcare. Sales of Lilly’s tirzepatide, marketed as Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes and Zepbound for obesity, have also topped Merck’s Keytruda as the world’s best-selling drug. Novo Nordisk had the early lead in the space, but Mounjaro and Zepbound have surged in popularity and helped the company eclipse its rival in prescriptions.
Walmart opened its first store in South Africa on Saturday, marking the U.S. retail giant’s debut on the African continent as it seeks a stake in a competitive market. More than a hundred shoppers queued for hours outside the store to take advantage of Walmart’s "Everyday Low Prices" and shop international products that are not easily available in South Africa such as designer counter-top air fryers by Drew Barrymore, Labubu dolls and Dr.Pepper sodas. "I’m actually here for a specific product that you can’t really get in South Africa....it’s a children’s toy, Labubu," Refilwe Mabale, told Reuters. Some, like Tshepo Rambau, were hoping to snap up deals during Black Friday weekend.
The Trump administration is considering greenlighting sales of Nvidia’s H200 artificial intelligence chips to China, people familiar with the matter said, as a bilateral detente boosts prospects for exports of advanced U.S. technology to China. The Commerce Department, which oversees U.S. export controls, is reviewing a change to its policy of barring sales of such chips to China, the sources said, stressing that plans could change. A White House official declined to comment but said, "The administration is committed to securing America’s global technology leadership and safeguarding our national security." The Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment. Nvidia but said current regulation does not allow the company to offer a competitive AI data center chip in China, leaving that massive market to its rapidly growing foreign competitors.