Healthcare and consumer cyclicals lead Hang Seng higher
The Hang Seng index led gains within the Asia-Pacific region on Wednesday, powered by health-care and consumer cyclical stocks.
Shares of Geely saw the most important moves, up 7.16% after the automaker posted a forty five.6% 12 months on 12 months gain in revenue for the entire of 2022 and a 8.5% rise in profit.
Wuxi Biologics and Country Garden Holdings were also among the many top gainers, advancing 4.68% and 5.43% respectively.
— Lim Hui Jie
It’ll be ‘very difficult’ for VCs and startups to seek out one other bank like SVB: Race Capital
It’ll be very difficult for enterprise capital firms and startups to seek out one other bank that’s as startup-friendly because the fallen Silicon Valley Bank, said U.S.-based enterprise capital firm Race Capital.
“SVB was not only one other bank across the corner. They really were the bedrock of Silicon Valley,” said Edith Yeung, general partner at Race Capital, on CNBC “Squawk Box Asia” on Wednesday.
SVB was Race Capital’s primary bank and two of their portfolio corporations had 100% funds sitting in SVB, Yeung said.
“In case you are a startup founder, you might give you the option to seek out one other bank to custody your funds,” she said.
“But going forward, it is unquestionably very, very difficult to seek out a bank that’s so startup friendly, and give you the option to supply enterprise debt to many, many startups. This is applicable to startups in Silicon Valley and China,” she added.
— Sheila Chiang
CNBC Pro: A longtime bear is ‘creeping back’ into tech — and has some picks to play it
Tech investor Paul Meeks has been bearish on tech for a while, but is finally starting to warm as much as the sector.
“I’m creeping back into the sector after long advocating an underweight position in it,” he told CNBC on Friday. He joins a chorus of investors who’ve turned more bullish on the sector in recent weeks.
Pro subscribers can read more about Meeks’ top stock picks here.
— Zavier Ong
China will leverage position to realize from a vulnerable Russia, analysts say
China’s president, Xi Jinping, will wrap up his visit to Russia soon, and analysts argue Beijing will leverage its strong position to make gains from President Vladimir Putin.
“Putin is weak, coming into these negotiations from real vulnerability,” said Timothy Ash, emerging markets strategist at BlueBay Asset Management, adding, he wondered “what price Xi will extract for saving Putin … he has to get something out of it.”
Overall, China has an upper hand economically over Russia, said Alicja Bachulska, policy fellow on the European Council on Foreign Relations. “If China supports Russia in a more substantial way it will proceed much more,” she added.
Read the complete story here.
— Yeo Boon Ping, Holly Ellyatt
CNBC Pro: Morgan Stanley is ‘outright bullish’ on Asia, emerging markets stocks
Morgan Stanley says it’s “time to show bullish” on Asia and emerging markets’ growth stocks.
While markets could also be pricing in a rate hike on the Federal Reserve’s March meeting, many also expect rate cuts later this 12 months. Easing financial conditions should profit growth stocks, the strategists said.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Jihye Lee, Christine Wang
Nike says China sales fell 8% in holiday quarter
Nike reported sales in China fell 8% through the holiday quarter whilst the country ended its zero-Covid policies.
The athletic apparel giant reported Greater China sales totaled $1.99 billion within the quarter ended Feb. 28. That is lower than Wall Street expectations for $2.09 billion, based on StreetAccount consensus estimates.
Still, Nike CEO John Donahoe remained optimistic saying the corporate saw growth “really pick up” within the second month of the quarter as Covid controls eased.
“The basics of this market are good, right? It’s a really large market that is growing. Sport and wellness is a key trend and tailwind there. There is a desire for innovation and elegance. And the important thing to winning on this market is solely put: having great innovation and connecting with Chinese consumers in a locally relevant way,” Donahoe said.
Shares of Nike slipped 2.25% within the after-hours session.
— Christine Wang, Gabrielle Fonrouge
Topix jumps as much as 2% in early trade, led by financials
Other names leading the index also included automaker Toyota, investment manager Softbank and technology corporation Sony.
— Lim Hui Jie
CNBC Pro: Exxon vs. Chevron? Goldman Sachs reveals its favorite — and other energy picks
Government could backstop more deposits if crucial, says Treasury Secretary Yellen
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday that while authorities consider they’ve taken sufficient motion to stem liquidity problems within the banking sector, the federal government is ready to ensure much more deposits if the banking crisis gets worse.
“The steps we took weren’t focused on aiding specific banks or classes of banks. Our intervention was crucial to guard the broader U.S. banking system,” she said in remarks prepared for a speech to the American Bankers Association. “And similar actions might be warranted if smaller institutions suffer deposit runs that pose the chance of contagion.”
— Tanaya Macheel, Jeff Cox
First Republic leads regional bank stocks rally
Shares of First Republic soared by greater than 38% on Tuesday morning. The move marks a reversal for the bank’s losses yesterday, after Standard & Poor’s cut its credit standing again over the weekend. Investors are optimistic after Janet Yellen’s reassurances early Tuesday.
Shares of other U.S. regional banks continued to be within the green. Shares of PacWest Bancorp gained about 15.7%. Zions Bancorp. and KeyCorp added 5.3% and 5.8%, respectively. Recent York Community Bancorp. was up 1.8% and Fifth Third Bancorp rose 3.8%.
— Pia Singh
Big bank CEOs meeting in Washington to debate First Republic, Reuters reports
CEOs from big banks, including JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon and Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan, are meeting in Washington Tuesday for a two-day scheduled gathering, Reuters reported, citing sources conversant in the matter.
First Republic Bank, which has been under pressure because of the massive percentage of uninsured deposits, will probably be discussed on the meeting, Reuters reported.
— Yun Li
Fed’s 2% inflation goal ‘unlikely’ to occur in 2023, based on Insight Investment
Because the Federal Reserve is seeking to announce its latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday, Insight Investment believes that inflation will proceed to stay high in 2023.
“The two% inflation objective is unlikely to be realized in 2023 but there may be some hope that we may even see a more normal inflation environment by 2024,” Brendan Murphy, Head of Core Fixed Income, North America wrote in a Tuesday note.
“Because the lagged effect of the Fed’s policy rate increases together with the newer tightening of economic conditions related to the banking sector concerns works their way through the economy, the consequences are prone to be disinflationary. Those self same conditions present many risks to the expansion picture,” Murphy added.
Insight Investment expects the central bank will raise rates of interest by 25 basis points on Wednesday, but added that “the recent market volatility might be a possibility for them to pause at this meeting.”
“The argument for a pause is powerful as one other 25bp increase might be seen as contributing to market volatility and financial instability,” said Murphy.
“Nonetheless, not delivering on 25bps might cause some to query the Fed’s resolve in bringing inflation lower which could create a complete recent set of problems. Pausing may result in an easing of economic conditions that work against their inflation goals.”
— Hakyung Kim