Asia stocks set to mostly fall as Biden drops out of race; inflation and GDP data this week in focus

Asia stocks set to mostly fall as Biden drops out of race; inflation and GDP data this week in focus


Aerial view by drone of Tokyo Cityscape with Tokyo Sky Tree visible in Tokyo city, Japan on sunrise.

pongnathee kluaythong | Moment | Getty Images

Asia-Pacific markets are set to fall on Monday in Asia, on the back of news that U.S. President Joe Biden has dropped out of the presidential race, and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as Democratic nominee.

As investors return from the weekend, they are also assessing the impact of the massive global IT outage on Friday. Machines running Microsoft’s Windows operating system crashed Friday due to a glitch in an update issued by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Shares of CrowdStrike plunged 11% on Friday.

Microsoft said in a blog post on the weekend it estimated that 8.5 million Windows devices — or less than 1% of all Windows machines — were affected. 

This week, investors will be looking out for GDP data from South Korea and the U.S., as well as factory activity data from around the region. 

On Monday, focus will be on the People’s Bank of China’s loan prime rate decision, with the one-year and five-year loan prime rate expected to be unchanged at 3.45% and 3.95% respectively, according to economists polled by Reuters.

The one-year LPR acts as the benchmark for most corporate loans, and the five-year LPR serves as a reference rate for mortgages.

Other economic data this week include inflation data from the U.S. on Friday and from Singapore on Tuesday. 

South Korea will also announce second-quarter advance GDP numbers on Thursday, while the U.S. will release second quarter GDP advance estimates on Friday.

Futures for Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 stood at 7,876, lower than its last close of 7,971.60 on Friday.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 is also set for a weaker open, with the Nikkei futures contract in Chicago at 39,845 and its counterpart in Osaka at 39,590, lower than the index’s last close of 40,603.79. At this level, the index will hit its lowest point in three weeks.

In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index looks set to open higher, with HSI futures at 17,450 compared to its last close of 17,417.68. 

On Wall Street, all three major indexes retreated on Friday and U.S. stock markets wrapped up the week defined by a rotation out of this year’s mega cap winners in favor of smaller names.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.71%, while the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 0.81%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 377.49 points, or 0.93%, to 40,287.53.

— CNBC’s Alex Harring and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.



Source

Santander doubles down on UK presence amid Spain’s banking M&A turmoil
World

Santander doubles down on UK presence amid Spain’s banking M&A turmoil

A sign hangs from a branch of Banco Santander in London, U.K., on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010. Simon Dawson | Bloomberg via Getty Images In one move, Santander has silenced months of speculation over it’s allegiance to the British high street – and complicated a year-long consolidation saga in Spain’s banking sector. On Tuesday, Spain’s […]

Read More
CNBC’s The China Connection newsletter: A slowing economy meets a fast future
World

CNBC’s The China Connection newsletter: A slowing economy meets a fast future

Employees at a coal mine in China’s Shaanxi province sit in an office to use digital systems for mining work, according to a photo taken on April 26, 2023, during a media tour organized by Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. Wang Zhao | Afp | Getty Images This report is from this week’s CNBC’s The China […]

Read More
National Grid failures led to fire that caused Heathrow shutdown, report says
World

National Grid failures led to fire that caused Heathrow shutdown, report says

Workers on the way of investigate electrical substation following a fire at an electrical substation supplying power to the facility, in London, United Kingdom on March 21, 2025.  Rasid Necati Aslim | Anadolu | Getty Images A fire that shut Heathrow airport in March, stranding thousands of passengers, was caused by National Grid’s failure to […]

Read More