Hong Kong leads losses in Asia markets, China shadow bank Zhongzhi files for bankruptcy

The electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing arm of property developer China Evergrande has called for a trading halt pending a company announcement.

In a filing to the Hong Kong Exchange, Evergrande New Energy Vehicle said the announcement was “in relation to inside information of the company.” It did not provide more details.

Evergrande NEV fell more than 18% last week, after the company revealed its planned share sale to U.S.-listed NWTN had been scrapped.

— Lim Hui Jie

Bank of Korea will hold the first central bank meeting of the year among major Asia economies on Thursday.

South Korea’s central bank is expected to hold interest rates steady at 3.50% for its eighth straight meeting.

“We expect the decision to be unanimous and the Board to retain the wording ‘maintain a restrictive policy stance for a sufficiently long period of time’ in its forward guidance,” HSBC economist, Jin Choi wrote in a client note.

Choi said even if the BOK holds rates, there might be a change in tone which could hint at a possible easing in the near term that some market participants’ expect, but warned that “inflation is likely still too high for a near-term start of easing.”

The central bank’s inflation target is 2%.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Citi predicts there’s strong growth ahead for memory chipmakers, driven by rising demand for artificial intelligence applications.

The Wall Street bank estimates that specialized memory and storage products meant for AI chips will claim a greater share of the total market, reducing volatility in the sector.

The investment bank named nine stocks that would benefit from the trend. CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

Energy stocks may have had a tough 2023, but one trader see opportunities to play the theme into the new year, naming sectors — and stocks — he likes.

Bill Perkins, CEO and head trader at Skylar Capital Management, said he’s “mildly bullish” on oil, but identified several opportunities for retail investors.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

Citi predicts there’s strong growth ahead for memory chipmakers, driven by rising demand for artificial intelligence applications.

The Wall Street bank estimates that specialized memory and storage products meant for AI chips will claim a greater share of the total market, reducing volatility in the sector.

The investment bank named nine stocks that would benefit from the trend. CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

Oil prices ended the week higher on fears that the Israel-Hamas war could escalate into a regional conflict.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for February settled at $73.81 a barrel on Friday, up $2.16 or about 3% over the past week. The Brent contract for March settled at $78.76 a barrel, gaining $1.72 or 2.23% during the same period.

Traders have grown more concerned about mounting tensions in the Middle East after largely dismissing geopolitical since the Israel-Hamas war began.

Houthi militant attacks on vessels in the Red Sea have forced Maersk to stop shipping through the key waterway for the foreseeable future. The U.S. has threatened the militants, who are based in Yemen and allied with Iran, with consequence to no avail so far.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is travelling in the region for the next week in an effort to prevent conflict from spreading.

A wider war that involves in Iran could lead to a disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, which would pose a major threat to oil flows, according to analysts.

— Spencer Kimball

The December jobs report has pushed down the odds that the Federal Reserve will ease interest rate policy as early as March, according to the CME FedWatch tool that uses the actions of traders to analyze the probability of changes to U.S. monetary policy.

Odds of a quarter-point cut in the fed funds rate to 5.00-5.25% from the current 5.25-5.50% dropped to 53.6%, down from 62.3% Thursday and 73.4% one week ago, as implied by 30-day futures pricing data. Conversely, chances that rates will stay where they are in March climbed to 43.9% Friday from just 11.5% a week ago.

The Street now pencils in 46.3% odds that rates will move down a quarter point at the Fed’s meeting in May, up from 11.3% a week ago, while the chance that rates will have come down a full half point by the end of the May meeting have dropped to 40.9% today from 71.9% last Friday.

— Scott Schnipper

The U.S. economy added many more jobs than anticipated in December, with nonfarm payrolls growing by 216,000. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a gain of 170,000 for last month.

The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7%.

— Jeff Cox