On Monday morning (24 November, 9:28 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), most major indices in Asia Pacific increased after the President of the New York Federal Reserve indicated the possibility of a third interest rate cut this year.
On Friday, John Williams of the New York Fed stated that the central bank could consider reducing interest rates, citing concerns about labor market weakness outweighing the risks of persistently high inflation. The Fed has only one remaining meeting scheduled for 2025, set for December 9-10, with the benchmark rate currently at 3.75% to 4.00%.
According to the CME FedWatch tool, futures markets are factoring in approximately a 70% probability of a quarter-point rate cut.
Meanwhile, markets in Japan are closed for a public holiday.
South Korea’s KOSPI rose by 1.05% to 3,893.71, and Australia’s ASX 200 grew by 0.97% to 8,498.00.
As for stocks in China, Shenzhen’s SZI climbed by 0.01% to 12,539.44. Hong Kong’s HSI surged by 0.76% to 25,411.21, while Shanghai’s SSEC fell by 0.28% to 3,824.10.
The U.S. stock markets edged up on Friday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained 1.08% to 46,245.41. NASDAQ advanced by 0.88% to 22,273.08, and S&P 500 expanded by 0.98% to 6,602.99. VIX dropped by 11.32% to 23.43.
As for commodities, oil prices settled lower on Friday as the United States advocated for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, a move that could potentially increase global oil supplies. Meanwhile, ongoing uncertainty regarding U.S. interest rates dampened investor risk appetite. Brent crude futures dropped 82 cents, or 1.3%, to end the session at $62.56 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slipped 94 cents, or 1.6%, to close at $58.06 per barrel.
This morning, Brent crude futures declined 14 cents, or 0.22%, to $62.42 per barrel, and the WTI dipped 14 cents, or 0.24%, to $57.92 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures decreased by 0.87% to $4,043.90 per Troy ounce.
