Asia-Pacific markets are mostly lower as investors analyze gains from the region

United Overseas Bank of Singapore achieved net profits during the first quarter amounting to 1.47 billion Singapore dollars ($1.08 billion), a decrease of 2% compared to the same period last year. However, this beat the average estimate of S$1.43 billion from analysts polled by LSEG.

Net interest income, a key indicator of profitability, fell to 2%, mainly due to lower net interest margins compared to last year.

However, UOB highlighted that net fee income grew 5% year-on-year to S$580 million, driven by fees related to loans, wealth management and credit card fees.

The bank, the third-largest in Southeast Asia, said its integration with Citigroup’s business was “going well” and said it would complete the integration in Vietnam in 2025.

Last year, UOB acquired Citigroup’s consumer businesses in four ASEAN markets.

Macroeconomic uncertainty and rising geopolitical tensions have given a boost to gold – a classic “safe haven” asset.

Gold prices rose to $2,400 an ounce in April as tensions escalated in the Middle East. Spot gold is currently trading up approximately 12% year to date.

Kevin Teng, CEO of wealth management firm Wrise Group, said he expects the precious metal to deliver significant returns over the long term, and picked his favorite stocks and ETFs to capitalize on.

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– Amala Balakrishner

US stocks have been somewhat volatile in the past month, but last week they saw a strong rally on hopes of lower interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had its fourth straight session of gains on Monday, and the S&P 500 has been higher over the past four days.

Technology stocks, which will be boosted by interest rate cuts, have been a big part of this rally – with Meta, Alphabet and Amazon in particular having a strong showing over the past two weeks.

Elsewhere, analysts are becoming more optimistic about Chinese stocks, especially those in the technology sector.

CNBC Pro FactSet scanned stocks from four exchange-traded funds. Here are eight that appeared on the screen.

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-Weezin Tan

The rally in China-linked stocks faltered on Tuesday, with many of the country’s biggest technology names under pressure.

JD.com shares fell 1.8%, while Alibaba shares fell nearly 3%. The KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB) fell 2.5%, giving up some of its strong year-to-date gains.

The trading action could serve as a reminder that Chinese stock rallies have proven difficult to sustain in the past.

“China ETFs are among the few categories that have seen more net inflows than their current assets under management – ​​along with long-term bonds (TLT) and long-volatility (VXX). We would remind investors that the 30-year return in the region is about 0% “Timing every aspect of a trade can be difficult,” Todd Son, a strategist at Strategas ETF, said in a note to clients on Tuesday.

-Jesse Pound

Despite the adage “sell in May and go away,” Strategas market technician Chris Fearon told clients Tuesday that when the S&P 500 begins May in an uptrend — as it does today — stocks have historically produced an outperformance of Average during July. “The opposite is true when the period from May to July begins in a downward trend,” he said.

“As this market continues to gather speed from the oversold state of late April and reclaims some key levels (S&P is back in the 50 days) [moving average]), we were looking at seasonality as a tailwind in the summer,” Ferrone wrote in a note to clients.

Other helpful signs for the market include tightening credit spreads, the VIX volatility index returning to “pre-correction levels,” bank stock indices at their highest levels since late March, and consumer discretionary stocks improving performance relative to consumer staples companies.

-Scott Schnepper

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said on Tuesday that he expects the central bank to stick with interest rates for an extended period, and did not rule out the possibility of raising interest rates if inflation measures do not cooperate.

“The most likely scenario is where we are now, which is that we stay where we are for an extended period of time until we get clarity on whether the decline in inflation is in fact continuing, or has it in fact stalled,” the central bank official said at the Milken Institute Global Conference. “I don’t think we know the answer to that.”

Interest rates could be cut if inflation starts to return to the Fed’s 2% target, although he said that is not the most likely case. Kashkari said he proposed two rate cuts at the Fed’s March meeting and will reassess when the Federal Open Market Committee updates its “dot chart” in June.

The comments came on the same day he published an article on the Minneapolis Fed’s website questioning whether the neutral interest rate is higher than the Fed and financial markets believe. If inflation remains higher than expected, this could lead to an interest rate hike.

“The bar ahead of us is very high, but it is not endless,” said Kashkari, who is not a member of the FOMC this year and will not be until 2026.

– Jeff Cox