- Asian shares saw a mostly positive trend on Tuesday, with investors keeping a close eye on market-moving reports expected later this week.
- Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.3%, Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3%, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.6%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.3%.
- About a third of the companies in the S&P 500, including Amazon and Apple, will report their Q1 earnings this week.
Asian shares rise as investors anticipate key market-moving reports. Major companies like Amazon and Apple are set to report their Q1 earnings this week.
Asian Markets Show Positive Trend
Asian shares mostly rose on Tuesday, with Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumping 1.3% to 38,442.28 in early trading. This comes after a national holiday in Japan. Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3% to 7,658.20, and South Korea’s Kospi added 0.6% to 2,703.27. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.3% to 17,795.09, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.1% to 3,109.62.
Wall Street Performance and Earnings Reports
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 16.21 points, or 0.3%, to 5,116.17, coming off its best week since November. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 146.43, or 0.4%, to 38,386.09, and the Nasdaq composite gained 55.18, or 0.3%, to 15,983.08. About a third of the companies in the S&P 500, including heavyweights Amazon and Apple, will report this week on how much profit they made during the first three months of the year. With roughly half the companies in the index reporting so far, the quarterly results have largely been better than expected.
Federal Reserve’s Policy Decision
When the Federal Reserve announces its latest policy decision on Wednesday, no one expects it to move its main interest rate, which is at its highest level since 2001. Instead, the hope is that the central bank could offer some clues about when the first cut to rates could come. This week’s Fed meeting won’t include the publication of forecasts by Fed officials about where they see rates heading in upcoming years.
Conclusion
The stock market will need such strength following a shaky April. The S&P 500 fell as much as 5.5% during the month as signals of stubbornly high inflation forced traders to ratchet back expectations for when the Federal Reserve could begin easing interest rates. The hope on Wall Street is that the job market will remain strong enough to help the economy avoid a recession but not so strong that it feeds upward pressure into inflation.
