A couple looks at LED lights before Christmas in Tokyo, Japan
Kiyoshi Ohta | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are set to start the holiday-shortened Christmas week on a positive note after the U.S. government averted a shutdown over the weekend.
On Monday, investors will be watching for any official announcements related to the merger of Japanese automakers Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. Japanese media Jiji Press reported that the news could be released as soon as Monday.
Nissan shares soared by a record on Wednesday following media reports that the troubled Japanese automaker was seeking to merge with Honda.
Japanese Nikkei 225 Index The Chicago futures contract was at 39,155 points and the Osaka futures contract was at 39,070 points, while the index’s last closing price was 38,701.9 points.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index futures were quoted at 19,886 points, opening stronger than the Hang Seng Index’s closing point of 19,720.7 points.
Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index It opened up 0.62% on the day.
All three major U.S. stock indexes rose on Friday, driven by lower-than-expected inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.18%, the S&P 500 Index rose 1.09%, and the Nasdaq Index, which is dominated by technology stocks, rose 1.03%.
this personal consumption expenditures price indexThe Fed’s preferred inflation gauge accelerated to 2.4% in November from 2.3% the previous month, but was still below Dow Jones’ forecast of 2.5%.
Excluding food and energy, core PCE rose 2.8% annually, slightly below expectations of 2.9%.
—CNBC’s Brian Evans, Sean Conlon and Jeff Cox contributed to this report.
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