It’s too early to have much bearing on Asia trading and anyway anticipation of Fed easing and a deluge of U.S. company results are more immediately salient 3-1/2 months before Americans head to the polls.
Earnings are the focus until later in the week, especially with mega caps Alphabet and Tesla reporting after the bell on Tuesday. Macro wise, the first read on Q2 U.S. GDP comes Thursday and the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index on Friday, both seen as pivotal to any Fed decision. Markets see a 25 basis point cut in September as a near certainty.
Conversely, markets seemed unprepared for China’s lowering of short- and long-term interest rates on Monday. Investors treated it as more of a desperate act than confidence builder, emphasizing how weak the second largest economy was.
Chinese blue chips <.CSI300> slipped 0.9% along with the yuan. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS closed 0.61% lower, having shed 3% last week.
If the Nikkei 225 followed its U.S. peers down 1.16% on Monday, led by tumbling chip-related stocks, then Nvidia’s <NVDA.O> surge could shore up sentiment for Tuesday. Reuters reported it was working on a version of its new flagship AI chips for the China market that would comply with U.S. export controls.
