Hong Kong
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Asia-Pacific markets started the week higher after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams signaled 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.
South Korea’s Kospi was up 1.56%, while the small-cap Kosdaq reversed gains and was down marginally. Samsung gained over 4.4%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.12%, rebounding from a 1.59% loss on Friday.
On Monday, shares of logistics group Qube climbed nearly 20% after Macquarie Asset Management made an offer of 11.6 billion Australian dollars ($7.49 billion) to acquire the firm.
Mining giant BHP also rose about 0.4% after the company announced it was no longer considering a merger with British miner Anglo American.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.41%, boosted by tech and healthcare stocks, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was just below the flatline.
Japan’s markets are closed for a public holiday.
On Friday in the U.S., all three major indexes posted a rebound, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 1.08%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.88% and the S&P 500 finished 0.98% higher.
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
