China leads Asia market declines as property stocks plunge; Japan service inflation heats

The Beijing Stock Exchange has asked major shareholders of listed companies not to reduce holdings even if they are eligible to do so, Reuters reported.

Citing people familiar with the matter, Reuters said this was due to fears that such moves could “dull market excitement.”

According to LSEG data, the Beijing Stock Exchange 50 Index has largely been on an uptrend since October, registering a one month gain of 44.72% and three month gain of 44.75%.

These gains were due to stocks rising on the back of supportive measures, Reuters reported.

The Beijing exchange and the China Securities Regulatory Commission did not immediately reply to Reuters’ requests for comment.

— Lim Hui Jie, Reuters

China’s industrial profit continued to decline in November, but at its slowest pace in almost a year, according to government data.

The reading showed profits at industrial enterprises in China decreased 7.8% in the January-to-October period from a year earlier, declining at the slowest pace since December 2022.

The drop was smaller than the 9% decline recorded in September.

Data highlights China’s uneven post-pandemic recovery and the need for more stimulus to boost market confidence.

China’s CSI 300 index fell 0.75%, minutes after the open following the data release.

– Shreyashi Sanyal

Jun Ohta, group CEO of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, passed away on Saturday at the age of 65, the Japanese financial conglomerate said.

SMFG announced on Monday that deputy president Toru Nakashima will take over Ohta’s duties for the time being.

The company also added that it would be selecting a successor, and will announce the decision “in a timely manner.”

Japan’s services inflation rate hit a 45-month high in October, coming in at 2.3% compared with last month’s revised rate of 2%.

The last time the services inflation rate hit this level was in January 2020, also recorded at 2.3%.

Last week, headline inflation in Japan rose to 3.3%, while core inflation — which strips out prices of fresh food — came in at 3%.

— Lim Hui Jie

Chinese tech players like Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent have largely been viewed favorably been investors, even as the Asian powerhouse has been having slower growth.

One tech giant, however, stands out to portfolio manager Brian Arcese.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

The Dow is on track to post its longest weekly winning streak in about half of a year.

With just a few hours left in Friday’s shortened trading day, the blue-chip index is poised to finish the week up nearly 1%. If that holds, it would mark the first time the index has notched four straight winning weeks since a streak that ended in April.

A chunk of this week’s gains are tied to a rally of more than 6% in Boeing. Investors first cheered a Deutsche Bank upgrade to buy from hold on Monday. On Wednesday, the airplane maker receiving clearance to start flight testing for 737 MAX 10 certification.

Verizon and Travelers were the next best performers on the week, climbing around 3.4% and 3%, respectively. But Walgreens and Caterpillar restricted gains for the 30-stock index, with both down more than 2% this week.

— Alex Harring

Brian Arcese, portfolio manager at investment firm Foord Asset Management has named the one energy stock investors should own right now.

Arcese, who manages the absolute return Foord International Fund, singled out the oil and gas giant over its strong cash flows and balance sheet.

Analysts have also forecast a “stable” 11% distribution yield for the stock next year, which includes share buy-backs.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about his stock ideas here.

— Ganesh Rao

Many national retailers kept their stores shuttered on Thursday, but that didn’t mean consumers weren’t shopping. In fact, Adobe Analytics reports online spending hit a record $5.6 billion on Thanksgiving, up 5.5% year over year. The firm, which tracks more than 85% of the top 100 internet retailers in the U.S., anticipates spending on Black Friday will reach $9.6 billion, which would be about 5.7% higher than the same day last year.

Adobe said toys has been selling well, with sales in the category up 182% year over year. Jewelry also has seen big demand (up 126%) and apparel (up 124%), it said.

The SPDR S&P Retail ETF was flat ahead of a shortened trading session on Friday.

The big question will be what happens after this five-day period known for its deals and promotions. Analysts expect consumers to be very focused on value, which means they will be hunting for bargains. Retailers are planning events as one strategy to reel in reluctant consumers.

—Christina Cheddar Berk

Bitcoin touched $38,001.71 around 6:45 a.m. Eastern time, marking the first time since April 2022, according to Coin Metrics. It was last higher by about 1.5% at $37,863.25 and on pace to end the week higher by 4%.

Meanwhile, ether has moved back above the key psychological level of $2,000, last trading nearly 2% higher at $2,105.65. The second largest token by market cap is outperforming the crypto market this week, on pace to end up more than 8%.

Solana, the big outperformer on the year – up 480% compared to bitcoin’s 130% – trailed the major tokens this week. It’s heading for a gain of less than 1%.

— Tanaya Macheel

Individual investor bullishness about the outlook for stocks over the next six months climbed again for a third week, to 45.3% from 43.8%, according to the latest survey from the American Association of Individual Investors. That marked the highest level of optimism since August 2, or almost four months ago.

Bullishness stayed above the historical average of 37.5% for a third consecutive week.

Conversely, retail investor bearishness dropped to 23.6% in the latest week, down from 28.1% — the lowest level of pessimism also since Aug. 2 and also the third week in a row that bearish views were below the long-term, historical average of 31.0%. Neutral opinion rose to 31.1% from 28.1%, the highest since mid-October.

The latest survey isn’t great news for contrarians who try and bet against the market, believing that lofty bullishness means a lot of investor stock purchases have already been made and there’s less cash on the sidelines that will be willing to commit to stocks.

— Scott Schnipper