Asian stocks waver as U.S. tariffs loom, Wall Street gains

Asian markets fluctuated Monday despite upbeat Chinese factory data, as looming U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods weighed on sentiment.

• Hong Kong’s Mixue Bingcheng soared 43% after its $444M IPO, setting a record for subscriptions. The Hang Seng fell 0.2%, while the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.3%.
• Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.7%, Australia’s ASX 200 gained 0.9%, while Taiwan’s Taiex lost 1.3%. South Korea’s markets were closed.
• Chinese factory data showed improvement, likely due to companies rushing orders ahead of the U.S. tariff hike to 20% starting Tuesday. China is considering retaliatory tariffs.

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Wall Street rally & market outlook

• The S&P 500 (+1.6%) and Nasdaq (+1.6%) rebounded after inflation data hinted at future Fed rate cuts. Nvidia led gains, rising 4%.
• Tariff fears remain, with concerns about inflation and economic uncertainty.
• Bitcoin surged to $92,500 from $84,000 Friday.

Other markets

• Oil: Brent crude +0.6% to $73.24
• Currencies: USD/JPY at 150.46, EUR/USD at 1.0412