Asia markets are mostly lower with Japan hovering near 33-year highs

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is considering a plan to spin off its China business and list in Hong Kong. The Financial Times reported.

Citing three people familiar with the talks, the Financial Times reports that the UK-based firm began discussing the idea with bankers several months ago. One of the three people told the Financial Times that listing in Shanghai was also possible.

Under the plans, AstraZeneca will split its China operations into a separate legal entity, but will retain control of the business.

Citing a person briefed on the plans, the Financial Times also reported that a separate listing in Hong Kong or Shanghai could insulate it politically from any moves by China to crack down on foreign companies.

The Financial Times said a separate listing may also help investors in the remaining company reassure themselves that they are less exposed to risks related to China.

Oil prices fell more than 1% as concerns about China’s economic recovery lingered on the horizon after major banks cut their 2023 GDP forecasts for the world’s largest oil importer.

Brent crude futures fell 1.46% to $75.49 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 1.39% to $70.78 a barrel.

Cool economic recovery expectations in China erased the more than 2% gains made by both benchmarks last week.

“Prospects of increased demand in China helped push crude oil prices higher last week. Beijing issued larger-than-usual import quotas for crude oil to local refiners,” ANZ analysts said in a daily note on Monday.

– Lee Ying Chan

US stocks are not the only ones that have risen this year.

Some global indices followed those gains and climbed.

Analysts remain optimistic about some parts of the US market, but some expect international markets to perform better this year.

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– Wizen tan

Morgan Stanley expects five of Asia’s best stocks to rise more than 50% in the next 12 months.

A Wall Street bank is bullish in a raft of Asian stocks as the MSCI Asia-Pacific Equity Index has entered a fresh bull market, up 25% from last October’s low.

Alibaba is the best choice of investment bank in China’s Internet sector.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about the remaining four stocks here.

– Ganesh Rao

Stocks closed lower on Friday, with the S&P 500 posting its best week since March.

The 30-share Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 108.94 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 34,299.12. The heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.7% to end the session at 13,689.57, while the S&P 500 fell 0.4%, closing at 4,409.59. Friday’s fall for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite broke their six-session winning streak.

Consumer inflation expectations eased in June, providing support for the Federal Reserve in its battle against rising prices.

A closely conducted University of Michigan survey of consumers showed the one-year forecast fell to 3.3%, down from 4.2% the previous month. This is the lowest level since March 2021.

The poll’s headline reading came in at 63.9, better than the Dow Jones estimate of 60.2 and up from 59.2 in May.

– Jeff Cox

Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin said Friday that he would be fine with raising interest rates if inflation did not continue to fall.

“I want to reiterate that 2% inflation is our target, and that I still look to buy into the plausible story that slowing demand returns inflation relatively quickly back to that target. If the upcoming data doesn’t support that story, I’m in,” Barkin said in prepared remarks for a speech at Maryland “I feel comfortable doing more.”

“I realize this creates the risk of a more significant slowdown, but the experience of the 1970s offers a clear lesson: If you back off inflation too soon, inflation comes back stronger, requiring the Fed to do more, with more damage.”, he added. “This is not a risk I want to take.”

Barkin is a non-voting member this year on the Federal Open Market Committee on rate-setting.

– Jeff Cox

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller pledged on Friday that the central bank will not back down from its efforts to bring down inflation.

“The Fed’s mission is to use monetary policy to fulfill its dual mandate, and for now that means raising interest rates to fight inflation,” Waller said in prepared remarks for a speech in Oslo, Norway.

In addressing the banking crisis in March, he rejected the notion that the Fed’s rate hike was one of the reasons.

He said, “It is the job of bank leaders to deal with interest rate risk, and all bank leaders have done just that. I am not in favor of changing the stance of monetary policy over the concerns of ineffective management in a few banks.”

– Jeff Cox