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An aerial view of the central business district and Sydney Opera House on February 17, 2023.
David Gray | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are set for a stronger open as investors prepare for Australia's third-quarter inflation figures, which will give clues to the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy decision when it meets on Nov. 3.
Economists polled by Reuters expect the headline inflation rate to come in at 5.3%, lower than the 6% seen in the second quarter.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 extended gains from Tuesday, climbing 0.34% in the morning session.
Japan's Nikkei 225 is also set to continue its recovery, with the futures contract in Chicago at 31,240 and its counterpart in Osaka at 31,260 against the index's last close of 31,062.35.
Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stood at 17,480, pointing to a rebound after the HSI ended at its lowest level since Nov. 10.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes rose as investors focused on a fresh slate of earnings reports, and traders monitored the latest moves in Treasury yields.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average snapped a four day losing streak, rising 0.62%. The S&P 500 added 0.73%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.93%.
— CNBC's Brian Evans and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
Dimon criticizes central banks for forecasting errors
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Tuesday criticized central banks for providing poor guidance on the economy as he warned of unpredictable waters ahead.
""Prepare for possibilities and probabilities, not calling one course of action, since I've never seen anyone call it," Dimon said during a panel discussion at the Future investment Initiative summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. "I want to point out the central banks 18 months ago were 100% dead wrong."
Also during the discussion, the head of the largest U.S. bank by assets said he favors ESG principles but said governments have taken a "whack-a-mole" approach. "So we better get our act together," he said.
—Jeff Cox
Energy stocks lag
Energy stocks bucked the S&P 500's leg up on Tuesday.
While the broad index rose about 0.5%, the energy sector fell 1%. It was the only of the S&P 500's 11 sectors to trade down in the session.
Hess, Halliburton and Schlumberger led the sector down with losses of more than 2% each. The best performer in the sector, EQT, was up just 0.4%.
On the other end of the spectrum, utilities was the best performing sector in the session, rallying 2.6%. NextEra gave upward momentum to the sector with a gain of more than 7%. AES and Edison were the next best performers, with both up nearly 4%.
— Alex Harring
Third-quarter earnings scorecard
Here's how third-quarter earnings season is stacking up with about 23% of the S&P 500 having reported results so far and releases from Alphabet and Microsoft on deck for after the close.
Of the companies that have reported results, 77% have beaten earnings expectations, while 60% have surpassed revenue expectations, while nearly 69% have topped sales expectations, per FactSet data.
Year over year, earnings are expected to decline by about 0.2%, while revenues are expected to rise 1.9%, based on the blended growth rate.
— Samantha Subin
Crypto equities get a bitcoin boost
Crypto related equities benefited on Tuesday from bitcoin's 10% rise that led the cryptocurrency to briefly touch the $35,000 mark for the first time this year.
Meanwhile, crypto exchange and services company Coinbase gained 10%, while other bitcoin trading platforms got a smaller lift. Robinhood was up more than 2% and Block, which operates Cash App, added 3.5%.
Elsewhere, bitcoin proxy Microstrategy climbed 13%. The biggest mining stocks rose double digits, with Marathon Digital gaining 17% and Riot Platforms rising 12%.
— Tanaya Macheel
English (US)