Trading in Evergrande shares halted after Hong Kong court ordered liquidation; Hang Seng up 1%

Oil prices rose after missiles fired by Iranian-backed militants killed American soldiers in Jordan.

Global benchmark Brent crude traded 0.35% higher at $83.84 a barrel on Monday, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.42% to $78.34 a barrel.

According to the White House, three US service members were killed in a drone attack on troops stationed at a site in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border on Sunday.

-Li Ying Shan

Singapore’s central bank kept its monetary policy unchanged as expected on Monday in its first quarterly monetary policy decision for 2024.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said it will maintain the exchange rate policy band known as the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate, or S$NEER.

“The Monetary Authority of Singapore will closely monitor global and domestic economic developments, and remain vigilant towards risks to inflation and growth,” the central bank said in the policy statement.

The central bank said it expects the country’s gross domestic product to improve in 2024, and estimates growth between 1% and 3%.

Core inflation is expected to rise in the current quarter “partly due to the one-time impact of the 1% GST increase from January this year,” the Monetary Authority of Singapore said. Singapore raised the goods and services tax by one percentage point on January 1.

The benchmark Straits Times Index rose 0.1% in early trading.

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– Shreyashi Sanyal

While demand for AI applications is growing rapidly, many non-technology companies are well positioned to directly benefit from the AI ​​boom over the next few years, according to Scotiabank.

Analysts from the Canadian bank’s investment banking division have named six stocks well positioned to benefit from increased demand.

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– Ganesh Rao

The Core Price Consumption Expenditures Index, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, rose 0.2% in December on a monthly basis, matching Dow Jones estimates. On an annual basis, core personal consumption expenditures rose 2.9%, slightly below expectations of 3%.

-Fred Imbert

Market professionals praised the GDP and personal consumption data released this week. But that doesn’t mean they expect the Fed to cut interest rates in the near future.

The two data points painted a picture of an economy slowing without slipping into recession, which boosted investor optimism.

However, traders expect a greater than 97% chance that the central bank will leave interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting scheduled for next week, according to the CME FedWatch tool. They forecast the probability of the cost of borrowing money remaining unchanged at the March meeting at more than 52%, a sharp increase from about 17% a month ago.

Friday’s personal consumption expenditures data “is clearly market-friendly even if it does not indicate, at this point, that the Fed is cutting interest rates at its March 20 meeting,” said Quincy Crosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial.

However, Crosby said interest rate cuts are a matter of “when” and not “if,” adding that the Fed will likely start lowering interest levels during its May or June meetings.

Sonu Varghese, global market strategist for Carson Group, agreed, saying he expects a series of declines starting in May.

“The big picture is that the Fed doesn’t need to worry that strong economic growth will stoke inflation because it hasn’t,” he said.

-Alex Haring

Oil prices are on pace for their best week in months, as US economic growth and stimulus in China raise hopes for stronger demand this year.

The March West Texas Intermediate crude contract fell 93 cents, or 1.2%, to trade at $76.43 a barrel. The Brent contract for last March was trading at $81.64 per barrel, down 79 cents, or 0.96%.

But both benchmarks are up about 4% this week, putting them on track for their best week since October 13.

The United States reported strong economic growth in the fourth quarter of 3.3%, while China reduced bank reserve requirements to boost growth.

-Spencer Kimball

Tesla shares fell more than 14% this week, putting the electric car maker on track for its worst weekly performance since October, when it lost 15.6%.

Shares fell more than 12% on Thursday alone, after the company reported disappointing quarterly results after the bell on Wednesday and warned of slowing growth.

Tesla shares have fallen more than 26% since the beginning of January and are on track for their worst monthly performance since December 2022. Shares fell 36.7% that month.