From Give the media company name for finance.yahoo.com. Examples: “Reuters”, “CBS MarketWatch, “CNBC, “Wall Street Journal”, “Barchart”. Return only the company name after the headline.:

create short, engaging summaries of the news. Limit summaries to 100 words or less. Ensure clarity and engagement, Include all facts, figures and statistics must be mentioned in the news article. Arrange summaries sequentially or by relevance in easy to read paragraph format. Verify accuracy and state only facts, ignore any promotional or marketing of services in the article:

(Bloomberg) — Most stocks in Asia look set to rise after the S&P 500 closed at a fresh record, with traders sticking to bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts for this year despite hotter-than-expected inflation data.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Futures for equity benchmarks in Australia and Japan pointed to advances, while those for Hong Kong indicated a slight drop. The S&P 500 dipped on Tuesday after the consumer price index came only slightly above economist estimates, before rebounding to close up more than 1%.

Tech led the increases, while Treasuries remained lower after a $39 billion sale of 10-year notes and gold snapped nine days of record-breaking gains following the CPI print. A gauge of US-listed Chinese companies rose 4%, its biggest advance in more than a month. Australian 10-year yields gained in early Wednesday trading.

“While traders in the Asian market may feel confused by the combination of hotter-than-expected inflation data and record-high US stocks, Asian stocks are more likely to mirror the optimism from Wall Street,” said Hebe Chen, analyst at IG Markets. However, the CPI report “will undoubtedly prompt the Fed to choose their language with extra caution in next week’s meeting.”

The relative sense of calm in the face of a strong inflation print was unusual. In fact, the advance in stocks marked a break from how stocks have traded on CPI days since the Fed started lifting rates. An S&P 500 move of 1% or more has only happened on a handful of occasions on the day of the CPI release since March 2022. Most of the time, however, gains were on the back of lower — not higher — core inflation.

“It’s proving difficult to see what may stop the market’s momentum, as earnings, inflation, and interest rates are moving in the right direction,” said Skyler Weinand at Regan Capital.

Story continues

The S&P 500 will deliver stronger-than-expected earnings in 2024, powered by resilient economic growth and artificial intelligence breakthroughs, according to Bank of America Corp. strategists — who are now among Wall Street’s most bullish profit forecasters.

As a flurry of analysts bump up their optimism toward US stocks in lockstep, Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson won’t budge, arguing he sees no justification to upgrade his outlook given an absence of broad earnings growth.

The strategist stuck to his year-end S&P 500 forecast of 4,500 in an interview on Tuesday with Bloomberg Surveillance Radio, even as a growing list of peers at firms including Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and UBS Group AG have raised projections for the benchmark.

“A lot of folks have raised their price targets because of higher multiples,” Wilson said. “We’re not willing to do that.”

The Fed is widely expected to hold interest rates steady for a fifth straight meeting when policymakers gather March 19-20. Much of the focus by investors will be on the Federal Open Market Committee’s quarterly forecasts for rates, including whether fresh employment and inflation figures have prompted any changes.

In other markets, Bitcoin dropped after setting a record-high for the third time in five days, while a Bloomberg dollar gauge rose for the first session in March. Oil advanced early on Wednesday after an industry report indicated stockpiles in the US decreased by 5.5 million barrels last week.

Key events this week:

Eurozone industrial production, Wednesday

ECB Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras speaks, Wednesday

Volkswagen, Adidas earnings, Wednesday

US PPI, retail sales, initial jobless claims, business inventories, Thursday

China property prices, Friday

Japan’s largest union federation announces results of annual wage negotiations, just ahead of Bank of Japan policy meeting, Friday

Bank of England issues inflation survey, Friday

US industrial production, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Empire Manufacturing, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

Nikkei 225 futures rose 1% as of 7:16 a.m. Tokyo time

Hang Seng futures fell 0.3%

S&P/ASX 200 futures rose 0.2%

The S&P 500 rose 1.1%

Currencies

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin was little changed at $71,090.66

Ether was little changed at $3,949.42

Bonds

Commodities

Spot gold was little changed at $2,159.50 an ounce

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.6% to $78 a barrel

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Georgina McKay and Richard Henderson.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

Read more at Give the media company name for finance.yahoo.com. Examples: “Reuters”, “CBS MarketWatch, “CNBC, “Wall Street Journal”, “Barchart”. Return only the company name after the headline.: Most Asia Stocks Eye Gains After US Shrugs Off CPI: Markets Wrap