Asian markets fall further as market rally stalls on Wall Street

Thailand’s consumer confidence index reached its highest level in more than three years in May

The index rose to 55.7 in May from 55.0 in April, the highest level since February 2020’s reading of 64.2, marking the twelfth consecutive month of increased readings.

The indicator remains below the 100-point mark that separates an improved outlook from a deteriorating trajectory.

Reuters reported that this was due to higher foreign tourist arrivals and increased activity during the recent national elections.

The report also added that spending during the May election helped fuel consumption, and confidence was also boosted by better-than-expected economic growth in the first quarter.

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The Reserve Bank of India kept its key repo rate at 6.5% in May for the second consecutive month.

The Indian rupee eased slightly by 0.1% following the announcement and last traded at 82.56 against the US dollar.

All 64 economists polled by Reuters expected the central bank to leave the repo rate at 6.50% for a second meeting in a row. India’s Monetary Policy Committee includes three members from the RBI and three external members.

The RBI kept the repo rate at 6.5% last month, marking the first time it had done so since April 2022.

The repurchase rate, or repo rate, is the rate at which the Reserve Bank of India lends money to commercial banks or financial institutions in India against government securities.

— Clement Tan

The roughly 90% jump in China’s coal and lignite imports in May indicates the increase in demand for coal in the economy, Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Vivek Dhar said in a Thursday note.

“The increase in imports in the first five months of 2023 has been accompanied by an increase in China’s domestic coal production,” Dhar said in a daily note, adding China’s industrial production data from early 2023 confirms the narrative of a rise in the superpower’s coal demand.

Elsewhere, July copper futures hit a high of $3.8115 a pound on Wednesday, marking the highest since May 11 when it traded as high as $3.8555 a pound. Futures last traded at $3.7445 in Asian morning.

Separately on oil, international benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.14% to $76.64 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate futures were 0.11% lower at $72.45.

– Lee Ying Shan, Gina Francolla

Australia’s trade surplus fell to 11.16 billion Australian dollars ($7.44 billion) in April, sharply lower than the AU$14 billion expected by economists polled by Reuters, government data showed on Thursday.

Most notably, total exports from the country fell 5% to AU$56.18 billion, compared with a 4% increase in April.

Exports of goods fell 7% compared to April, but services exports increased by 7.8%.

Total imports grew 1.6% compared to March to AU$45.02 billion, with imports of goods and services increasing 1.1% and 3.7% respectively compared to March.

The Australian dollar rose 0.14% to 0.6659 against the US dollar.

Japan’s economy grew 2.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of the year, expanding further than previous estimates of 1.6% made last month, government data showed, as the economy continues to see robust spending.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected to see growth of 1.9%.

The Japanese yen strengthened 0.14% to 139.98 against the US dollar shortly after the release. Quarter-on-quarter, the economy expanded 0.7%, beating Reuters estimates of 0.5%.

Private demand increased by 1.2% and domestic demand also increased by 1%, while exports of goods and services saw a drop of 4.2%. Imports also fell by 2.3%, revised government estimates showed.

– Jihye Lee

Bank of America has named a European insurance giant as one of its top picks in the insurance sector, given its attractively low valuation.

In addition to the generous dividend yield, the investment bank expects the shares to rise by 30% over the next 12 months.

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– Ganesh Rao

Goldman Sachs is bullish on generative artificial intelligence: It expects it to drive higher in the broader S&P 500 — and one specific corner of the technology.

It provides the real value upside for the S&P 500 and shows stocks to buy.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

In what has been a strong day for small companies, mega-company stocks have underperformed the market.

The shares of technology giants Microsoft and Google fell by 2.7% and 3.3% respectively. Several names in semiconductors also saw shares pull back after gains last week. Nvidia lost 1.1%, while Qualcomm shares fell 1.2%.

The financial companies Visa and Mastercard fell by 1.5% and 2.2% respectively.

– Hakyung Kim

The US trade deficit widened sharply in April, although the increase was not quite as much as expected.

The imbalance between goods and services reached $74.6 billion for the month, $1 billion short of the Dow Jones estimate but up $14 billion from March. Exports fell by 9.2 billion dollars, while imports rose by 4.8 billion dollars.

Imports are net negative for GDP, so the April figure may mean lower growth for the second quarter.

-Jeff Cox

Shares of Warner Bros Discovery rose nearly 5% in midday trading after CNN announced that CEO Chris Licht is leaving.

CNN, which is owned by Warner Bros Discovery, said Licht was coming off a rocky year at the helm that included criticism over the network’s town hall with former President Donald Trump. He also faced a revolt among the talent and staff.

Amazon plans to create ad-supported subscription tiers for Prime Video, according to a report from the WSJ. The move will come as other competing streaming services are also creating ad-supported tiers to generate more revenue for their streaming services.

The company is also in talks with Paramount Global and Warner Bros Discovery to potentially add the ad-based tiers to their streaming services on Prime Video Channels, according to the report.

Amazon shares fell more than 3 percent Wednesday afternoon.