Hong Kong stocks briefly jump 7% as China trims quarantine period; U.S. inflation softer than expected

Softbank is expected to post a net profit in upcoming quarterly earnings.

A median of forecasts predict the Japanese conglomerate to report an annualized net profit of 2.769 trillion yen ($19.5 billion) for its second quarter ending September 30, according to a Refinitiv survey.

The company posted two consecutive periods of quarterly net losses, with a 3.16 trillion yen net loss in the first quarter ending June 30 and a 2.1 trillion yen net loss in the fourth quarter ending March 30th.

— Lee Ying Shan

Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese technology companies popped in early Asia trade as the broader Hang Seng Index briefly added more than 6%.

Tech giants Alibaba and JD.com soared 7.94% and 10%, respectively. Tencent added 9.16%, and Meituan gained 12.26%.

— Lee Ying Shan

The Japanese yen and Chinese yuan hovered around strengthened levels after the U.S. dollar index fell more than 1% overnight on a softer-than-expected inflation report.

The yen stood at 141.63 against the greenback, hovering around the strongest levels it’s seen in two months before weakening past 150 in October.

The onshore yuan was around 7.18, also trading near its strongest levels to the dollar in nearly a month.

— Jihye Lee

Bitcoin is down by 75% from its all-time high, and a cryptocurrency exchange is on the brink of bankruptcy. In such an environment, a bond fund manager reveals the one thing that’s needed for prices to rally.

Michael Howell from Cross Border Capital also said that due to the missing catalyst, there’s an increased risk of investors getting in a “bit too early.”

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

The U.S. consumer price index — a broad measure of inflation — rose by 0.4% in October from a month ago. On a year-over-year basis, the CPI rose 7.7%.

Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a month-over-month gain of 0.6% and a year-over-year advance of 7.9%.

Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core CPI increased 0.3% for the month and 6.3% on an annual basis, compared to respective estimates of 0.5% and 6.5%.

— Jeff Cox

The U.S. dollar slid Thursday against a basket of other currencies as investors cheered October’s CPI report coming in weaker than expected, signaling that inflation may have peaked.

The dollar index shed 2%, putting it on pace for its worst daily performance since Dec. 4, 2015. If the index falls more than 2.1%, it will hit levels not seen since 2009.

This week, the dollar index is down 2.3% and is on pace for its worst week since March 2020.

—Carmen Reinicke

President Joe Biden is expected to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in a face-to-face meeting.

The meeting between the two leaders, the first since Biden ascended to the U.S. presidency, will take place ahead of the G-20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia.

“I think the president will be honest and direct with President Xi about how we see the situation in Ukraine with Russia’s war of aggression,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters on a call.

“This is a topic that the president and President Xi have spoken about several times before. They spoke about it extensively in March in their video call and then they spoke about it again in July, so it’s part of an ongoing conversation between the two of them,” added the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

— Amanda Macias