Japanese stocks rose to their highest levels since 1990 as the G7 meeting took place

Central Bank of the Philippines Governor Felipe Medalla said the Central Bank of the Philippines may suspend interest rates in its policy for the next two or three meetings before considering a rate cut given the domestic inflation situation in the economy.

It comes after it kept its benchmark interest rate at 6.25% on Thursday, the first pause after nine consecutive hikes since May 2022.

Speaking to CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia,” Medalla said that month-on-month inflation is “already so low,” the central bank could consider a rate cut after the next two or three meetings.

However, Medalla points out, “The market seems to think it’s appropriate to make a difference between our policy [the] US policy [of] anywhere between 1% to 1.25%.”

“What we have to be very vigilant about is the extent to which even a small differential between our policy rate and the Fed rate can cause a significant weakening of the peso.”

The peso currently stands at 55.74 against the US dollar.

In addition, Midela also expected the country’s inflation to drop to around 4% by September or October. The headline inflation rate in the Philippines was 6.6% in April.

– Lim Hwi Ji, Charmaine Jacob

Shares of Chinese tech giant Alibaba fell nearly 5% in Hong Kong, dragging losses on the Hang Seng Index after the company’s quarterly earnings missed expectations late Thursday.

Alibaba reported revenue of 208.20 billion yuan ($30.12 billion) for the three months ending in March, compared to a Refinitiv estimate of 210.3 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, the company posted full year return 868.69 billion yuan, up 2% year on year, but that was the slowest growth rate since the company went public in 2014.

Net income stood at 22 billion yuan in the quarter, reversing last year’s loss of 18.36 billion yuan.

New Zealand’s trade surplus for April narrowed to NZ$427 million ($266.46 million), down from NZ$470 million a year earlier.

State Statistics Department He said exports rose 10% year-on-year to NZ$6.8 billion, while imports rose 12% to NZ$6.4 billion.

It said exports of milk, butter and cheese grew the most in April compared to last year, rising 26% year-on-year to NZ$2 billion.

Meanwhile, petroleum and petroleum products led imports, rising 312% to NZ$974 million.

– Lim Hwi Ji

Japan’s core inflation rate rose 3.4% year-on-year in April, in line with expectations of economists polled by Reuters.

The reading was higher than the previous month’s inflation rate of 3.1% and was above the central bank’s target of 2%.

The headline inflation rate also increased from 3.2% in March to 3.5% in April.

The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 138.42 against the dollar after the US dollar index surged past 103.5 overnight, hitting its highest point in nearly two months.

The United States and Taiwan have reached agreement on a number of trade terms, marking agreement on the first part of the bilateral “21st Century Trade” initiative.

The US trade representative said in a statement that the first agreement under the initiative includes: customs administration and trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, domestic regulation of services, anti-corruption, and small and medium-sized businesses.

“This achievement marks an important step forward in strengthening economic relations between the United States and Taiwan,” US Trade Representative Catherine Tay said of the agreement.

The agreement comes in the face of mounting pressure from China, warning of a deepening of bilateral relations between the United States and Taiwan.

– Jihe Lee

Bank of America has named a number of European stocks that are expected to perform well across three economic phases.

“Our style cycle model…is still in the ‘slowdown’ phase but is close to the intersection line for the next phase,” Bank of America quantitative strategist Polina Strelinska wrote in a May 17 note to clients.

“Historically, the ‘recession’ phase was the typical successor to the ‘slowdown’ phase, but the ‘boom’ phase has also followed the ‘slowdown’ in the past.”

The investment bank has scrutinized these stocks based on their ability to withstand volatility in every eventuality.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about their stock picks here.

– Ganesh Rao

Cybersecurity is one area that presents an opportunity for investors right now, according to portfolio manager Philip Reibmann of Storebrand Asset Management.

Reibmann, who manages the $1 billion Storebrand Global Solutions sustainable fund, is bullish on a couple of cybersecurity companies.

He also explains why he doesn’t carry typical big tech names in his trunk.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Wizen tan

Dallas Federal Reserve Chairman Lori Logan said Thursday that economic data points so far do not justify skipping a rate hike at the next central bank meeting in June.

“After raising the target range for the federal funds rate at each of the last 10 FOMC meetings, we’ve made some progress,” she said in prepared remarks for a speech to bankers in San Antonio. “Data in the coming weeks may show that it is appropriate to skip a meeting. Even today, though, we’re not quite there yet.”

Futures fell after her comments.

– Jeff Cox

Initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell last week, indicating that the job market is still experiencing some malaise.

Total first-time filings for the week ending May 13 were 242,000, down 22,000 from the previous week and below the Dow Jones estimate of 250,000, reported the Ministry of Labor. Continuing claims fell to 1.799 million, against FactSet’s estimate of 1.829 million.

In other economic news, the Manufacturing at Philadelphia Fed The region’s index rose to -10.4, an increase of 29 percentage points and better than the -20 estimate.

However, the index, which measures the percentage of companies reporting expansion versus those experiencing contraction, still shows the sector in decline relative to the region.

– Jeff Cox