The New York Stock Exchange trading floor is preparing for the initial public offering (IPO) of social media platform Reddit on March 21, 2024, in New York City.
Spencer Pratt | Getty Images News | Getty Images
This report comes from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open keeps investors updated on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see?You can subscribe here.
What you need to know today
Taiwan earthquake
British Semiconductor After Taiwan was hit by the strongest earthquake in 25 years earlier on Wednesday, the company said all workers were safe and evacuated workers had begun returning to some factory production lines. Officials said at least four people died.
disney leaks
Ahead of Wednesday’s board vote, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal reported that Disney’s largest and second-largest shareholders, index fund manager Vanguard Group and BlackRock, planned to back Disney management. Reuters reports Disney CEO Bob Iger has enough votes to fend off activist investor Nelson Peltz and his Trian Partners, as well as Blackwell Capital (Blackwell Capital) challenge.
Biden-Xi chat
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke by phone for nearly two hours with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, with the White House describing the call as a “check-in” between the two leaders to responsibly manage tense U.S.-China relations. Biden’s top economic envoy, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, is scheduled to depart for China on Wednesday for five days of in-person meetings with her Chinese counterparts in Guangzhou and Beijing.
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bottom line
Federal Reserve officials are Expectations for rate cuts have been dampened time and time again.
San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said on Tuesday she expects to cut interest rates this year but wants to see more convincing evidence that inflation has been subdued, echoing comments from the Federal Open Market Committee two weeks ago.
“Three rate cuts are a prediction, but a prediction is not a promise,” Daly said.
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester also said on Tuesday that she still expected to cut interest rates this year but ruled out holding the next policy meeting in May.
To be sure, futures traders expect the Fed to begin easing in June and cut interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point by the end of the year – although recent comments have made a June cut less likely.
However, on Monday, U.S. ISM manufacturing survey data showed a sharp rise in prices in the industry, sparking investor concerns that inflation may not drop to 2% soon, thus delaying the Federal Reserve’s first interest rate cut.
But if that happens, the impact could be global.
Continued strength Dollar has had an adverse impact on several emerging market currencies in Asia, including Malaysian Ringgit and Indonesian rupiah.
The wide interest rate differential between the U.S. and Japan is also at least partly to blame for the weakness JPYIt fell to its lowest level against the dollar in more than three decades.
Japanese finance officials have issued repeated verbal warnings but so far have refrained from actual market intervention – as they did in 2022 when the yen fell to 152 to the dollar.
Vishnu Varathan, chief economist at Mizuho Bank Asia (excluding Japan), expects the risk of yen intervention to rise. He also expected Chinese officials to step up their “intimidation” against offshore yuan shorts.
Volatility is the name of the game.
—CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed reporting to this report.
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