Nikkei 33-year high, Australia inflation

australian consumer price index The year-on-year increase in November was 4.3%, the smallest increase since January 2022 and lower than the 4.9% recorded in October.

The figure was slightly lower than the 4.4% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

According to the country’s statistics office, the biggest contributors in November were housing, insurance and financial services, as well as alcohol and tobacco.

Inflation rates are an important consideration when a country’s central bank determines monetary policy.

— Lim Huijie

South Korea’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate In December, it rose to 3.3%, the highest level in 23 months, up from 2.8% in November.

The number of unemployed rose by 78,000 from a year earlier to 944,000, an increase of 9%, according to data from the country’s statistics office.

The ratio of employment to population in December was 61.7%, an increase of 0.4 points from the same month last year.

— Lim Huijie

2023 has been a great year for stocks, boosted by the artificial intelligence boom and hopes of pausing interest rate hikes.

After such a strong performance, investors may be asking themselves if it’s time to take profits.

There are still many uncertainties. The Federal Reserve may have hinted that it will cut interest rates in 2024, but it also signaled that there is “extraordinarily high uncertainty” about the direction of policy.

CNBC Pro asked experts for their opinions on whether investors should cash out, and if so, when and how.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Tan Weizhen

Juniper Networks stock soared more than 23% in premarket trading Tuesday and continued to rise after the Wall Street Journal report. report On Monday night, it was announced that cloud service provider Hewlett Packard Enterprise is in “advanced negotiations” to acquire the company for about $13 billion.

The newspaper reported that a deal between the two companies could be announced as early as this week. The acquisition could strengthen HPE’s efforts to take on Cisco, which has long competed with Juniper in the networking equipment market.

Juniper stock has underperformed the tech industry, falling about 8% last year. Meanwhile, HPE he increased by nearly 10%.

— Pia Singh, Jordan Nove

Oil prices rebounded on Tuesday after falling yesterday.

West Texas Intermediate futures for February rose $1.47, or 2.08%, to settle at $72.24 per barrel. Brent futures for March rose $1.39, or 1.76%, to trade at $77.46 per barrel.

The two indexes settled more than 3% lower on Monday after Saudi Arabia cut oil prices for Asian customers by $2 a barrel, raising concerns about global demand.

“Volatility is high and if you don’t like the price, stay there,” Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group wrote in a note Tuesday morning.

Flynn said yesterday’s selling was “out of balance” and prices are rebounding on Tuesday.

Geopolitical risks also continue, with tensions rising in the Middle East and Libya’s largest oil field remaining closed.

The U.S. trade deficit was much larger than expected in November as shortages of goods to both Europe and China declined.

In Tuesday’s report, This was announced by the Ministry of Commerce. The goods and services deficit fell to $63.2 billion, down $1.3 billion, or 2%, from October. This move reflects a decline in the shortfall in both exports and imports in the same month. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected a deficit of $64.7 billion.

The goods deficit with the European Union decreased to $15.6 billion, and the trade deficit with China decreased to $21.5 billion.

—Jeff Cox