Japanese Consumer Price Index, Bank of Japan

Amazon Web Services announced With an investment of 2.26 trillion yen ($15.24 billion). in Japan by 2027 to meet growing customer demand for cloud services in the country.

Tadao Nagasaki, president of AWS Japan, said the investment will be made in existing cloud infrastructure in Tokyo and Osaka. Posted on LinkedIn.

Nagasaki wrote that the investment could benefit “multiple sectors” that contribute to Japanese industries, in both the public and government sectors.

“It will help more Japanese organizations access and adopt new, emerging and transformative digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning,” he added.

– Lim Hui Ji

Morgan Stanley says it does not expect the Bank of Japan to exit the negative interest rate regime at the central bank's policy meeting next week.

“As for the monetary policy meeting in January, I think it will be removed [of negative interest rates] “It's off the table right now because of the earthquake,” Takeshi Yamaguchi, chief Japan economist at Morgan Stanley, told CNBC's Street Signs Asia.

“The wage negotiations this year will be very strong. Last year, the main increase was around 3.6% and 3.7% but [this year] “We expect approximately 4%, in terms of the headline wage increase,” Yamaguchi said, adding that he believes that will be key for the Bank of Japan to end its negative interest rate policy.

The Bank of Japan is scheduled to issue its monetary policy decision on Tuesday, with markets widely expecting the central bank to stick to its current stance.

Friday's data also showed Headline inflation in Japan The interest rate fell to 2.6% in December, reaching its lowest level since June 2022. It also slowed from 2.8% in November.

– Shreyashi Sanyal

Inflation in Japan is increasingly influenced by wages rather than input costs, which should be relevant for the country's stocks and economy, according to Schroders.

The country's headline inflation rate, which fell to 2.6% in December from 2.8% in November, was a result of lower input costs, Masaaki Taketsumi, fund manager at Schroders, told CNBC's “Squawk Box Asia.”

But the spring wage negotiations, or “shunto”, in March are expected to produce a “positive outcome” in terms of wage increases, which will lead to a modest increase in inflation to about 3% in the second half of the year. the year.

“[This will be] “It is led by wage growth, which is what the Bank of Japan is looking for,” Taketsumi said.

– Lim Hui Ji

Headline inflation in Japan The interest rate fell to 2.6% in December, down from 2.8% in November, reaching its lowest level since June 2022.

Japan's core inflation rate – which excludes fresh food prices – also fell to 2.3% from November's figure of 2.5%, in line with expectations of economists polled by Reuters.

The “core” inflation rate, which excludes fresh food and energy prices and is closely monitored by the Bank of Japan, was 3.7%, slightly lower than the 3.8% recorded in November.

– Lim Hui Ji

Chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia are among several S&P 500 names that hit 52-week highs on Thursday. AMD traded at all-time highs not seen since the company's initial public offering in September 1972, while Nvidia shares reached levels not seen since January 1999. Other technology and software companies, industry names and a couple of hotel chains also reached new highs.

Here are some names that have reached all-time highs:

Stocks in the broad market index that hit 52-week lows include Devon Energy, Exxon Mobil and Humana.

– Piya Singh, Christopher Hayes

Many sectors — and stocks — in the Asia-Pacific region look “particularly attractive right now,” according to AllianceBernstein.

While naming them “Best Asian Stocks for the Next 6 Months,” the Wall Street bank analysts wrote that these stocks “rank highly on a quantitative basis and companies where our Bernstein analysts have a strong positive outlook.”

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Amala Balakrishner

Oil prices rose on Thursday thanks to a strong outlook for demand growth for 2024 and a large drawdown in US crude inventories.

West Texas Intermediate futures rose $1.52. Or 2.09% to settle at $74.08 per barrel. Brent crude futures for March rose $1.22, or 1.57%, to reach $79.10 per barrel upon settlement.

The International Energy Agency expected demand for crude to rise by 1.2 million barrels per day in 2024, while OPEC estimated the number at 1.8 million barrels per day.

The United States also withdrew 2.5 million barrels from its crude oil stocks for the week ending in January. 12, which is larger than expected.

-Spencer Kimball

Apple shares rose more than 1% premarket after the tech giant received an upgrade from Bank of America. The bank also said it expects a rise of more than 20% in the future.

“We upgrade Apple to Buy from Neutral, given: 1) A stronger multi-year iPhone upgrade cycle driven by the need for the latest hardware to enable generative AI features that will be introduced in 2024/2025 (a significant portion of the installed base is still on the iPhone 11 ), 2) Higher growth in services as Apple better monetizes its installed base.

Initial jobless claims fell sharply last week in a surprise move that signals ongoing tightness in the labor market.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance totaled 187,000 for the week ending in January. The Labor Department reported Thursday that the Dow was down 16,000 from the previous period and below the Dow Jones estimate of 208,000.

Continuing claims, which were delayed a week, fell to 1.806 million, down 26,000 and below the FactSet estimate of 1.83 million.

—Jeff Cox