Sweet gains for markets amid sour job signals

After shaking off some of the weakness at the start of the month, markets seemed to be ready to board Santa’s sleigh, and rode into a second straight day of gains this week. 

Wednesday’s rally was on the back of surprisingly weak private jobs data, with payrolls processing firm ADP’s November report showing 32,000 job losses, sharply missing the 40,000 gain expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. 

This further strengthened investors’ conviction that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut rates in its final meeting of the year on Dec. 9-10. 

But before one starts celebrating like Charlie Bucket who has found a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, remember, what looks like a catalyst for portfolios in the short term can mask economic weakness in the longer term if job losses continue.

For now, markets are savoring the sugar rush, but whether this rally lasts is anyone’s guess.

Huang talks chip restrictions. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he met with President Donald Trump on Wednesday and that the two men discussed chip export restrictions, as lawmakers consider a proposal to limit exports of advanced artificial intelligence chips to nations like China.

Quantum computing in Singapore. Singapore-based software firm Horizon Quantum on Wednesday said it has become the first private company to run a quantum computer for commercial use in the city-state, ahead of its plans to list in the U.S. 

Putin in India. New Delhi is all set to host Russian President Vladimir Putin for a two-day visit from Thursday, signaling its determination to deepen ties with Moscow. Putin will be in India for the 23rd India-Russia annual summit.

Markets climb on rate-cut hopes. All three U.S. indexes rose as traders bet on a Fed rate cut on the back of weak job numbers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the largest gainer, up 0.86%. The S&P 500 rose 0.30%, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.17%. Markets in Asia mostly rose, with Japanese stocks leading gains in the region.

[PRO] Cash is king. The best investment idea right now is cash, said Dan Niles, founder of Niles Investment Management, but there are some other sectors he is also optimistic on.

Japan’s central bank faces a policy dilemma as government bond yields keep hitting new highs

The Bank of Japan is caught in a bind as soaring government bond yields risk upending its policy normalization process.

The BOJ faces a stark choice: sticking with its policy of raising rates and risking even higher yields and further slowing an already sagging economy, or holding, even cutting rates to support growth that could accelerate inflation further.

Japanese government bonds have been scaling new peaks over the past month. On Thursday, yield on the benchmark 10-year JGBs hit a high of 1.917%, surging to their strongest level since 2007. 

— Lim Hui Jie