(Bloomberg) — Stocks, Treasuries and other assets steadied as investors sought to move on from weak US economic data that had rattled financial markets Tuesday.
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US stock-index futures pointed to gains, Treasury 10-year yields rebounded in Asian trading while gold, Bitcoin and oil all traded within a tight range after declines overnight. Hong Kong equities surged, extending a rally that started last month driven by optimism that China’s technological breakthroughs may help revive the sluggish economy.
Investors sought safer corners of the market Tuesday after a weak US consumer confidence reading raised worries about the outlook for the broader economy from President Donald Trump’s policies and their impact on global growth. Chances for early action on Trump’s tax cut plans improved as House Republicans passed a budget blueprint Tuesday. The steadiness Wednesday will get a test later when Nvidia Corp. reports earnings.
“Nvidia’s numbers could well be a make-or-break event for the market, at least in the short term,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade in Sydney. “What could really drive sentiment one way or the other could boil down to whether the outlook from the company remains as rosy as before.”
Hong Kong shares were the standout asset in Asian trading, after DeepSeek reopened access to its core programming interface after nearly a three-week suspension, resuming a service key to wider adoption of an AI model that’s proven remarkably popular since its emergence last month.
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“The Chinese stock market is still attractive from the relative valuation point of view,” said Linda Lam, head of equity advisory for North Asia at Union Bancaire Privee in Hong Kong.
President Trump’s move to further decouple economic ties between the two nations had rattled global investors who had bet on a sustained rebound in Chinese stocks. The shares have risen this year on optimism around DeepSeek artificial intelligence and President Xi Jinping’s meeting with corporate leaders, a move seen as a possible end to the year-long crackdown on the private sector.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose after an 11-basis point decline overnight, sitting around its lowest levels since mid-December. Yields on Australian and Japanese bonds declined. Money markets are now pricing in more than two quarter-point reductions by the Fed in 2025.
