Asia markets are trading mixed after Wall Street rebound on Friday

China’s trade surplus is expected to have eased slightly from $88.2 billion in March to $74.3 billion in April, a Reuters poll of economists showed.

Exports are forecast to have grown 8% year-on-year after growing 14.8% in March, while imports are expected to remain unchanged after declining by 1.4% year-on-year in the previous month.

The softer trade data in April is likely to reflect “residual seasonality” after this year’s Lunar New Year, economists at Goldman Sachs said in a Monday note.

“We expect the dissipation of this seasonal bias to slow export growth in April. We expect import growth to decelerate on a month-over-month basis,” economists wrote, adding that holiday-related seasonal patterns are less obviously noted in imports.

The economy is also slated to report its inflation data later in the week.

— Jihye Lee

A number of economic data releases are expected next week for Asia-Pacific markets, including China’s inflation data, India’s industrial production and the Philippines’ trade balance.

On Monday, Taiwan reports its trade data. Economists at Citi expect that in April, Taiwan’s exports declined 21.4% year on year and imports fell 22.6% year on year.

“Non-tech exports to China are yet to recover (as indicated by trade data from China) and lower commodity prices will reduce the value of exports,” Citi economists wrote in a Thursday note.

China’s April trade data will also be released Tuesday along with Malaysia’s gross domestic product.

South Korea’s current account balance for March and unemployment rate for April are expected on Wednesday.

China’s producer price index and consumer price index are slated to be published on Thursday. For March, China’s CPI reading rose marginally by 0.7% year-on-year while the PPI marked a 2.5% year-on-year decline. The Philippines reports its gross domestic product for the first quarter on this day as well.

India’s industrial output for March will be published on Friday after marking year-on-year growth of 5.6% in February. Citi economists expect headline inflation to fall toward 4.8% year on year, marking the first print below 5% since November 2021.

— Jihye Lee

Analysts on Wall Street view the latest results from Apple as yet another sign of the technology giant’s ongoing resilience and defensive positioning.

According to Evercore ISI’s Amit Daryanani, the findings underscore the company’s diverse revenue streams and show the iPhone’s “consumer staple nature.”

The stock rose 2.7% in premarket trading.

Read more on what analysts are saying after Apple’s results here.

WTI Crude (JUN) settled up 4.05% on Friday at $71.34 after hitting a high of $71.81 earlier on Friday. This was the highest level since May 2^nd, when WTI traded as high as $71.42

Meanwhile, WTI Crude is lower -7.09% week to date for the 3^rd straight negative week and the worst week since Mar. 17, when WTI Crude lost -12.96%

Brent settled up 3.86% at $75.30 hitting a high of $75.75. Brent closed down -5.33% WTD for the 3^rd straight negative week .

Natural Gas (JUN) settled up 1.71% at $2.137 after hitting a low of $2.031. Nat gas closed down -11.33% week to date for the first negative week in 4 and the worst week since Mar. 10, when natural gas lost -19.24% Natural gas is down 52.25% in 2023. 

— Hakyung Kim

The U.S. economy added 253,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department said. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected 180,000 jobs were added. The report comes after the Federal Reserve hiked rates by 25 basis points Wednesday and signaled that a pause may be on the horizon.

— Jeff Cox, Fred Imbert

The regional bank stocks are extending their Friday rebound, led by PacWest with a gain of more than 70%.

The stock still has a long way to go to recover all of its losses from this year, however. In fact, PacWest shares are still trading below where the closed on Wednesday.