Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Wednesday, breaking ranks with Wall Street after the S&P 500 closed at a record high. The broad market index gained 0.41% to finish at 6,978.60, supported by gains in Apple and Microsoft. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 reversed gains and fell 0.22%, potentially snapping a three-day winning streak. Australia saw its headline inflation come in at 3.6% for the last quarter of 2025, its highest level of inflation in six quarters. South Korea’s Kospi and Kosdaq continued to push fresh records, gaining 1.61% and 3.5% respectively. However, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slumped 0.63%, while the Topix fell 1.01%. Late Tuesday, the yen strengthened to its highest level in almost three months against the dollar, touching a low of 152.08 amid intervention expectations swirling around the currency.
The S&P 500 rose to a new all-time intraday high on Tuesday, aided by gains in Big Tech, as traders awaited earnings from companies in the sector. Traders also looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s first-rate decision of the year, due Wednesday. The broad market index gained 0.41% and posted a closing record of 6,978.60, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.91% to end at 23,817.10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average struggled, losing 408.99 points, or 0.83%, and settling at 49,003.41. A nearly 20% drop in UnitedHealth weighed on the 30-stock index.
Gold rose above $5,200 per ounce on Wednesday, hitting new record highs as a sharp decline in the dollar fuelled investor demand for safe-haven metals. Those moves came as US President Donald Trump said that he is not concerned about the dollar’s recent drop as it sinks to its lowest level in four years, signalling that the administration is comfortable with a weaker greenback to support export competitiveness. Policy uncertainties in Washington, including Trump’s tariff threats against other nations and attacks on the Federal Reserve’s independence, further underpinned the rally in precious metals. Meanwhile, the Fed is widely expected to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday, with markets focused on any guidance regarding the timing of the next rate cut. Gold has also benefited from robust central bank buying and continued ETF inflows. The yellow metal has surged about 20% year-to-date, while silver has jumped nearly 60%.
WTI crude oil futures hovered above $62 per barrel on Wednesday, following a nearly 3% gain in the previous session that pushed prices to an almost four-month high, driven by supply disruptions. A severe winter storm cut US crude production by up to 2 million barrels per day, about 15% of national output, and temporarily halted Gulf Coast exports, as energy infrastructure and power grids came under strain. Icy and wet conditions across parts of the South are expected to delay restarts. Traders are also keeping a close eye on the US military buildup in the Middle East and the heightened risk of potential action against Iran.
Australia’s inflation came in at 3.6% in the fourth quarter of 2025, its highest level in six quarters, reinforcing warnings from policymakers that interest rate cuts this year are likely to be limited. The fourth-quarter reading was in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters and up from the 3.2% seen in the third quarter. On a quarterly basis, inflation rose 0.6%, also matching the Reuters forecast and easing sharply from the 1.3% seen in the previous quarter. For December, inflation in Australia rose 3.8% year on year, exceeding the 3.55% expected by economists. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said housing was the largest contributor to the rise in December, with prices rising 5.5%. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as recreation and culture, also contributed to the month’s price gains.
The U.S. dollar fell 1.3% on Tuesday, the most since last April, after President Donald Trump declined to say that the currency had fallen too much. Speaking to reporters during a visit to Iowa to promote his economic record, Trump was asked if he was comfortable with the current value of the greenback and if he thought it had fallen too much after sliding 10% over the past year. “I think it’s great,” Trump said of the weaker dollar. “I mean the value of the dollar; look at the business we’re doing. No, [the] dollar is doing great. You know it’s very interesting, if you look at China or Japan, I used to fight like hell with them because they always wanted to devalue their yen ... you know that, the yen and yuan, and they’d always want to devalue it. They devalue, devalue, devalue. And I said, ‘not fair.’ They devalue, because it’s hard to compete when they devalue.”
It is expected to double EU exports to India by 2032 by eliminating or reducing tariffs in 96.6% of traded goods by value, and to deliver savings of €4 billion in duties for European companies, the EU said. The pact, described by Indian leaders as “the mother of all deals”, is to be unveiled at an India-EU summit in New Delhi on Tuesday, co-chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. Under the deal, the EU will cut tariffs on 99.5% of goods traded over seven years. India will slash duties on a wide range of European imports, while tariffs will be cut to zero on Indian marine goods, leather and textile products, chemicals, rubber, base metals and gems and jewellery, India’s trade ministry said. Bilateral trade in goods reached €120 billion in 2024, up nearly 90% over the past decade, according to EU figures, with a further €60 billion in services trade.
Singapore is expected to leave monetary policy unchanged at a review on Thursday, with the growth outlook supported by strong demand for semiconductor exports and inflation seen under control. Out of 16 analysts polled by Reuters, 15 expect the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to hold off making any changes this week. MAS left settings unchanged in July and October last year after easing in January and April. Singapore’s GDP rose 4.8% in 2025, above a government forecast in November of around 4.0% and its previous estimate of 1.5% to 2.5%.
China has approved its first batch of Nvidia’s H200 artificial intelligence chips for import, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, marking a shift in position as China seeks to balance its AI needs against spurring domestic development. The approval covers several hundred thousand H200 chips and was granted during Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang’s visit to China this week, the sources said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. The first batch of approvals has been allocated primarily to three major Chinese internet companies, with other enterprises now joining a queue for subsequent approvals, one of the sources said. They declined to name the companies that received the initial clearances. China’s industry and commerce ministries as well as Nvidia had not yet responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
Boeing swung to a fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, driven by the sale of its digital aviation services provider, as well as rising jet output and stronger deliveries. Losses in its two biggest divisions were bigger than expected and dampened investors’ reaction. The company also recorded a $565 million charge on its KC-46 aerial-refueling tanker program due to higher estimated production support and supply chain costs. But Boeing continued to increase output of its two most popular jetliners - the 737 MAX and 787 - and posted positive free cash flow, a metric closely watched by investors. The $10.6 billion sale of Jeppesen, which closed in the fourth quarter, ensured Boeing ended the year profitable, despite ongoing losses in Boeing’s commercial and defense divisions.
NextEra Energy is considering expanding its nuclear fleet to deliver electricity to data centers, with the giant U.S. power provider saying on Tuesday that it is in advanced discussions to power an additional 9 gigawatts of the server warehouses. Big Tech’s data centers are driving up U.S. power demand, leading to historic deals with the country’s electric utilities, including the revival of multiple shut nuclear power facilities. Last year, NextEra announced that it would restart its Duane Arnold nuclear power generating station in Iowa to serve Google data centers. NextEra, on a call with investors on Tuesday, said it has the ability to add 6 gigawatts of new nuclear technologies to serve data centers at its existing nuclear sites. It is also considering greenfield sites to build advanced nuclear power.
The British government said on Tuesday it had recruited a team of artificial intelligence specialists to build AI tools to improve transport, public safety and defence, using funding from Meta. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, like many other leaders around the world, is looking to tap into the huge economic potential of developing an AI industry and, at the same time, use the technology to improve productivity across government. The government said the AI experts would spend the next year developing open-source tools to improve how authorities maintain roads and transport networks, manage public safety, and make decisions on national security. The programme will focus on developing technology that public bodies can run without relying on commercial, closed-source systems, it added.