Two-year Treasury yields dropped more than five basis points – a decent move for Asia hours – to below 5% and slightly narrowing the yield curve’s inversion.
French and German confidence data is due later in the day, followed by U.S. job openings, where a slight decrease might point to a slowdown for broader labour figures that are due out on Friday.
FTSE futures suggest a positive return from a day’s holiday in London, while U.S. and European futures were flat.
Japan’s government said it may be at an inflection point in its 25-year battle with deflation, though that scarcely lifted the yen from Monday’s 10-month low.
The Nikkei touched a two-week top, while Chinese stocks were also on the shopping list in Asia, with foreigners turning buyers after Beijing signalled some interest in steadying markets by halving stamp duty on share trading.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 2% by mid-session and mainland blue chips were up 1.5%. Both remain lower for the year so far, as does the yuan, which has hardly caught a boost as doubts about China’s economic outlook remain heavy.
Trade tensions also lurk, with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo meeting her Chinese counterpart to discuss restrictions on chipmakers and chipmaking ingredients.
As the holiday season winds down, there are some signs it’s been a good one: Tourism Holdings, the world’s biggest campervan rental company, posted a record underlying profit and its shares had their best trading sessions since the pandemic, jumping 15%.
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