Hong Kong shares rose 4% ahead of China’s Covid briefing

Oil prices rose ahead of a press conference by China’s State Council as investors continued to monitor developments – paring some of the losses seen on Monday when they hit near-year lows.

West Texas oil futures rose 1.76% to $78.59/barrel, while Brent crude oil futures rose 2.28% to $85.00/barrel.

However, oil markets may have “misjudged news of China’s lockdown,” Rystad Energy wrote in a note.

“[The latest lockdowns’] The impact on China’s short-term oil demand, especially in transportation, is likely to be small,” the company added, referring to a study conducted by the company on real traffic activity in China.

According to Rystad Energy’s own research, while daily Covid cases continue to rise, cities like Shanghai have not seen a slowdown in traffic.

– Lee Yingshan

Indices in China rose more than 2% as investors closely watched developments on the country’s zero-Covid policy after seeing losses in the previous session.

China’s CSI 300 index rose 2.97% in the morning session Shanghai Composite It increased by 2.2%. The Shenzhen Component The index gained 2.172%.

Local media reported that China’s State Council will hold a press conference on Covid measures at 3pm local time or 2am ET.

The nation saw a drop in the number of daily infections for the first time in more than a week.

– Evelyn Cheng, Jihye Lee

Shares linked to Hong Kong-listed property developers rose after the Chinese regulator announced it would lift a ban on capital raising for the sector.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has announced five measures to support the real estate market, including lifting a multi-year ban on property developers selling shares to raise financing.

Cifi Holdings Group rose 13.01% in the first hour of trading, Village garden also increased by 13.36%, The Logan Group 10.23% increased and Longfor Group increased by 9.88%.

– Jihye Lee

Hong Kong Hang Seng index It is on pace to post its best month since April 1999, when the index gained 21.85%.

The index rose more than 3% on Tuesday morning and is up nearly 22% for the month of November, according to Refinitiv data.

The HSI closed 1.57% lower on Monday, its worst day of the week, while the Hang Seng lost 1.87% on November 21.

–Gina Francolla, Jihye Lee

Japan’s unemployment rate for October remained steady from September’s reading of 2.6%, according to official data. The figure was slightly higher than the average expectation of 2.5% among economists polled by Reuters.

The job-to-applicant ratio, which measures active jobs per job seeker, was 1.35. This shows that there are 135 jobs for every 100 applicants, indicating that Japan still has a tight labor market.

The country’s retail sales rose 4.3% year-on-year in October, missing expectations for a 5% rise predicted in a separate Reuters poll.

The latest reading marks the first softening in retail sales growth seen since June this year.

– Jihye Lee

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said on Monday that the Fed should continue to raise interest rates in the coming months and that the market is underestimating the chances of the Fed becoming more aggressive.

“We will have to continue raising interest rates until 2023, and there are some risks that we will have to go even higher. [5%]”, Bullard said on a Barron’s Live webinar.

Bullard made waves in financial markets earlier this month when he said the Fed’s hikes had “only limited effects” on inflation and that the benchmark interest rate may need to rise between 5% and 7%.

Bullard, a voting member of the FOMC, said the Fed would have to hold off on any interest rate cuts next year even if the inflation picture begins to show consistent improvement.

“I think given the historical behavior of core PCE inflation, or the Dallas Fed tapering of average inflation, we’re probably going to have to stay there through 2023 and into 2024. I think they’re going to come down. That’s my main indicator. .But they probably will.” It will go down as fast as the markets want and probably the Fed wants,” Bullard said.

– Jesse Pound

The price of bitcoin fell on Monday after BlockFi officially announced that it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy following the bankruptcy of FTX.

Bitcoin briefly fell to around $16,000, but has since rebounded. It was last above $16,300, down just 1%, according to Coin Metrics. The movement in Ether price showed a similar jump.

BlockFi has been in bad shape since the spring, following the implosion of the Terra project, which led to the implosion of Three Arrows Capital. At that time, the company accepted a bailout from FTX to help avoid bankruptcy. Of course, FTX is now managing its own bankruptcy.

– Tanaya Macheel

Many global companies, including the world’s largest automakers, are heavily exposed to China, which generates 20% to 40% of its worldwide sales in the country, according to Goldman Sachs.

In a note to clients on Nov. 22 — before the latest protests — the investment bank mapped the global auto industry’s exposure to Chinese consumers.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Ganesh Rao

After a winning Thanksgiving week, the three major indexes closed lower on Monday as investors sold off amid growing concerns about supply chain disruptions amid Covid-related protests in China.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average It lost 1.45% or 497.57 points to close at 33,849.46 points. The S&P 500 also ended 1.54% lower at 3,963.94. The Nasdaq Composite It lost 1.58% and ended at 11,049.50.

– Alex Harring