Asia stocks were mixed Tuesday after weakness in the technology sector pulled U.S. indexes from all-time peaks, with investors weighing corporate earnings and recent spikes in virus cases. The yen hit its strongest levels since early March.
Shares slid in Japan and Australia, and climbed in China. U.S. futures also advanced, after the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index underperformed in the U.S. session, while the S&P 500 Index also fell. Tesla Inc. slumped after concerns about a fatal crash of one of its electric vehicles, which appeared to have no driver. Treasury yields traded around 1.61%, well off recent highs, and the dollar dipped.
Chinese delivery giant Meituan raised $9.98 billion from a record top-up placement and a convertible bonds sale. Meituan’s shares were volatile on Tuesday, though higher in afternoon trade.
Investors are awaiting further confirmation of the private sector’s recovery from the pandemic as the earnings season gathers pace. The bright spot in the latest reports was the first revenue gain for International Business Machines Corp. in eleven quarters. Even with this latest pullback in major indexes, and the latest grim news on the spread of Covid-19, global stocks are trading near record highs.
“We do think the market is a little overextended here,” Dave Sekera, chief U.S. market strategist at Morningstar Investment Services, told Bloomberg TV, adding that broad U.S. equities look about 5% overvalued. “Having said that we do still see value in a couple of areas, the value category being one.”
Meanwhile, China President Xi Jinping used a speech to the annual Boao Forum Tuesday to pledge cooperation on global challenges from climate change to the pandemic, and called on the U.S. and its allies to avoid “bossing others around.”
Here are some key events to watch this week:
Apple’s first product unveiling of the year on Tuesday.EIA crude oil inventory report on Wednesday.European Central Bank rate decision and President Christine Lagarde briefing on Thursday.U.S. releases new home sales data
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures were up 0.2% as of 2:00 p.m. in Tokyo. The S&P 500 fell 0.5%. The Nasdaq 100 dropped 1%Japan’s Topix Index slid 1.6%The Shanghai Composite rose 0.3%Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was flatKorea’s Kospi Index gained 0.4%Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slipped 0.7%
Currencies
The yen pared earlier gains, trading around 108.17 per dollarThe offshore yuan was up 0.3% at 6.4894 per dollarThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%The euro was 0.2% higher at $1.2064
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries gained about one basis point to 1.61%
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1% to $64 a barrelGold was 0.1% higher at $1,772.62 an ounce
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