(Bloomberg) -- Stocks in Asia advanced after US shares ended January on a high note as signs of cooling inflation encouraged risk appetite ahead of the Federal Reserve's Wednesday meeting.
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Benchmarks in Australia and Japan rose while gauges in Hong Kong and mainland China fluctuated. Contracts for the S&P 500 fell after the index climbed 1.5% Tuesday. Nasdaq 100 futures also eased lower after the tech-heavy benchmark rallied 1.6% to cap its best month since July and strongest start to a year since 2001.
The drop for US futures followed a series of corporate earnings reports after US markets closed that included a disappointing outlook from Electronic Arts Inc. and the first-ever forecast revenue decline for Snap Inc.
Contracts for the Nifty 50 index of Indian blue chips also rose. Investors will be focused on Adani Enterprises Ltd., a member of the benchmark, which successfully raised $2.5 billion in a closely watched follow-on equity sale Tuesday. The transaction provides some relief for Gautam Adani after fraud allegations by short seller Hindenburg Research.
Australian and New Zealand yields fell and a rally in Treasuries steadied after the 10-year yield dropped three basis points Tuesday. An index of the dollar traded flat and the yen strengthened.
Gains for US stocks were helped along by wage cost data that undershot forecasts. Separate figures showed the US housing market continued to cool. Another report highlighted consumer confidence unexpectedly falling.
The encouraging signs indicate the Fed's rate hikes over the past year have begun to curtail inflation. The central bank is set to unveil a 25 basis point rate increase Wednesday and investors will be keenly parsing Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments for signs the tightening cycle may soon pause.
"We're getting closer to the terminal rate," Sassan Ghahramani, chief executive of SGH Macro Advisors, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. "Data that has come out does not justify 50 basis point hikes. If anything, I'd say it's virtually a 100% certainty they do 25."
Fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday in the US were mixed. McDonald's Corp. and Caterpillar Inc. fell short of profit estimates while General Motors Co. and Exxon Mobil Corp. outpaced forecasts with the oil major posting its highest ever full-year profit.
Key events this week:
Eurozone Manufacturing PMI, CPI, unemployment, Wednesday
US construction spending, ISM Manufacturing, light vehicle sales, Wednesday
FOMC rate decision, Fed Chair Jerome Powell press conference, Wednesday
Earnings Wednesday include: Meta Platforms and Peloton Interactive
Eurozone ECB rate decision, President Christine Lagarde press conference, Thursday
UK BOE rate decision, Thursday
US factory orders, initial jobless claims, US durable goods, Thursday
Earnings Thursday include: Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Qualcomm and Deutsche Bank and Santander
Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, PPI, Friday
US unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures fell 0.3% as of 11:49 a.m. Tokyo time. The S&P 500 rose 1.5%
Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.5%. The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.6%
Japan's Topix rose 0.2%
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4%
Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.5%
The Shanghai Composite fell 0.3%
Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.2%
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
The euro was little changed at $1.0853
The Japanese yen was little changed at 130.01 per dollar
The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.7576 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 0.6% to $23,086.03
Ether rose 0.3% to $1,582.52
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 3.50%
Australia's 10-year yield declined one basis point to 3.54%
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.2% to $79.05 a barrel
Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,925.34 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
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