Electrical and electronic equipment stocks drove the South Korean benchmark as much as 2.3% higher.

Shares in Australia and Hong Kong also rose, as did US equity futures, after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both fell yesterday.

Equity trading in Japan is closed for a holiday.

Chinese stocks traded in a tight range after the worst start to the year since 2016.

The nation’s 10-year government bond yield slipped below 1.6% for the first time ever today amid concerns about the state of the country’s economy.

Today’s moves are a sign that the weakness in global equities over the past week may be starting to turn.

Investors are preparing to implement asset-allocation strategies for the year ahead after a rocky end to 2024.

The decline in US stocks accompanied a rally in the dollar, a popular haven, which set a fresh two-year high yesterday before sagging today.

The yen rose after a third daily decline against the greenback in the prior session.

US President-elect Donald Trump’s “policies especially on tariffs are inflationary in their very nature,” said Jung In Yun, CEO of Fibonacci Asset Management Global, on Bloomberg Television.

“Inflation being very sticky and refusing to come down means we could have the current state of mid-level interest rates for a prolonged period of time,” he said.

The yield on China’s bonds “could get closer to zero” than 1% before the end of the year, Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, said on Bloomberg Television, adding it seemed like Chinese policymakers are “running out of magic here” after multiple rounds of stimulus have failed to kick-start consumer spending.

Treasuries were little changed for the week, though the benchmark 10-year yield is nearly 20 basis points above the level prior to Jerome Powell’s hawkish turn at the Dec 18 Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting.

Big moves have proliferated across asset classes after Powell’s board expressed waning enthusiasm for interest-rate cuts.

Trading in Treasuries in Asia is closed given the holiday in Japan.

The Fed would find little to support rate cuts in economic data from yesterday.

Initial applications for US unemployment fell to an eight-month low, reflecting relatively muted levels of job cuts in a labor market that has remained surprisingly resilient.

On the corporate earnings front, 2025 will be a “show-me year,” according to Lisa Shalett at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, who warned that the dominance of the Magnificent Seven — the big technology stocks responsible for the bulk of last year’s gains — was teetering.

“This idea that they as a group can trade together and lead the market may falter in 2025,” she said.

As for the slide in the final days of 2024, it’s “too soon to call it a bad omen,” Shalett said on Bloomberg Television.

Losing streak

US stocks have been straining to snap a losing streak that took some shine off the S&P 500’s best two-year run dating back to the late 1990s.

The index has surged more than 50% since the start of 2023, driven by gains in the tech megacaps amid enthusiasm about the boost to profits from artificial intelligence (AI).

Investors will be watching the US House Speaker vote today to see if Mike Johnson will retain his position.

Republican squabbling over his reelection could bode ill for President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda, according to Tom Essaye, founder of the Sevens report.

Elsewhere in commodities, oil rose for a fifth day after an industry report yesterday signaled US crude stockpiles continued to shrink.

Gold was on track for its biggest weekly gain since November, as broad risk-off sentiment buoyed demand for haven assets.

Bitcoin dropped for the first time in four days.