Asia shares rise and dollar down; Oil profits

  • Asian stock markets:
  • Nikkei slips as yen climbs, Wall St. futures flat
  • Markets see 38% chance Fed cuts 50bps
  • Oil gains as Israel and Hezbollah trade blow
SYDNEY, Aug 26 (Reuters) – Asian stocks edged cautiously higher on Monday, with the dollar and bond yields falling ahead of inflation data that investors hope will pave the way for interest rate cuts in the U.S. and Europe.
Oil prices rose 0.8% on Sunday after Israel and Hezbollah traded rocket salvos and airstrikes, fueling concerns about potential supply disruptions if the conflict escalates.

Brent rose 55 cents to $79.57 a barrel, while U.S. crude added 56 cents to $75.39 a barrel.

Investors are also eagerly awaiting earnings from AI darling Nvidia ( NVDA.O ).Opens a new tab Wednesday to see if it matches the market’s uber-high expectations.

Shares are up about 150% year-to-date, accounting for a quarter of the S&P 500’s 17% annual gain.

“NVIDIA will beat consensus expectations, and they always do, but investors are too deeply entrenched to see $2 billion in revenue and above analysts’ consensus, or the news event is an easy sell,” said Chris Weston, head of research at the brokerage. Pepperstone.

That means Nvidia should report sales of $30 billion or more and guidance for Q3 of $33 billion or more, he added.

On Monday, S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were flat after opening a shadow.

EUROSTOXX 50 futures fell 0.2%, while FTSE futures were closed for the holiday.

MSCI’s Broadest Index of Asia-Pacific Shares Outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS)Opens a new tab It added 0.8% after rising 1.1% last week, while South Korea (.KS11)Opens a new tab Hardly changed. Chinese Blue Chips (.CSI300)Opens a new tab They were also near the flat.
Nikkei of Japan (.N225)Opens a new tab Exporter shares lost 1.0% on strong yen pressure.

The yen rose on a broadly weaker dollar after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell insisted the time had come to ease policy and the central bank did not want further weakness in the labor market.

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“Noticeably absent are warnings like ‘gradual/gradual’ used mainly by other central bank officials,” noted Tabas Strickland, NAB’s head of market economics.

“The September 6 jobs report is clearly important because Powell is poised to cut rates to prevent downside risks to employment and maintain a strong labor market,” he added. “In short, Powell has increased the chances of a soft landing.”

A lot of cuts are coming

US personal consumption and core inflation figures are due on Friday, along with a flash reading on EU inflation. Analysts generally expect the data to be benign enough to allow for rate cuts in September.

Fed funds futures are fully priced for a quarter-point cut at the Sept. 18 meeting, implying a 38% chance of a move outside of 50 basis points. The market has 103 basis points of easing for this year and another 122 basis points in 2025.

“We continue to expect the FOMC to deliver an initial string of three consecutive 25bp cuts at the September, November and December meetings,” analysts at Goldman Sachs said.

“Our forecast rests on our assumption that the August employment report will be stronger than the July report, but instead if the August report is weaker than we expect, we continue to think a 50bp cut is possible.”

Markets have fully priced in a quarter-point cut from the European Central Bank next month, and a total of 163 basis points of easing by the end of 2025.

The yield on two-year Treasuries was at 3.91%, down nearly 10 basis points on Friday, while the 10-year yield was at 3.79%.

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The dollar fell another 0.5% to 143.64 yen, down 1.3% on Friday. The euro rose to $1.1191 and hit a 13-month high, while the Swiss franc was at 0.8461 per dollar.

A soft dollar combined with lower bond yields pushed gold to $2,514 an ounce, an all-time high of $2,531.60.

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Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Sri Navaratnam

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