Chinese trade, boosting Singapore's GDP Taylor Swift

China's exports This came in well below expectations in March, recording a 7.5% year-on-year decline.

This was much more than the 2.3% decline expected by economists polled by Reuters, and reversed the 7.1% year-on-year gain in the first two months of the year combined.

Total trade in the world's second-largest economy also fell by 5.1% year-on-year to $500.8 billion. China's trade surplus shrank more than expected to $58.55 billion, compared to $70.2 billion expected in a Reuters poll.

— Lim Hui Ji

He left the Bank of Korea The key interest rate remains unchanged For the tenth time in a row, by 3.50%.

The central bank noted in a statement that it is still “too early to be confident that inflation will approach the target level” given the presence of “a high degree of uncertainty associated with consumer price inflation expectations.”

Consumer prices in South Korea rose 3.1% year-on-year in March, but are still far from their 2% target.

“Therefore, the Governing Council will continue its restrictive monetary policy stance for a sufficient period of time until this confidence is built,” the bank said.

-Li Ying Shan

Singapore's gross domestic product in the first quarter grew by 2.7% year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Friday.

This was faster than the 2.2% rise in the October-December quarter.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry said the city-state's manufacturing sector grew by 0.8% year-on-year in the first quarter of the year, compared to 1.4% growth in the previous quarter.

The wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage sector grew by 2.7% on an annual basis compared to 1.4% in the previous quarter.

-Charmaine Jacob

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has She kept her policy steadyleaving the width and level of its policy scope unchanged.

Unlike other economies, Singapore uses exchange rate settings to set monetary policy rather than a benchmark rate, changing its policy range to adjust the strength of the Singapore dollar against an undisclosed basket of currencies.

The monetary authority also said it expects inflation in the city-state to remain high in the coming quarters, before “stepping down more clearly” in the fourth quarter of 2024 and into 2025.

– Lim Hui Ji

Goldman Sachs has updated its “Condemnation List” of top picks in the Asia-Pacific region for April by adding some stocks and removing others.

The bank remains optimistic about the region, noting that it has “strong expectations for the second quarter.”

“There are five factors likely to influence Asian market performance in the second quarter: the beginning of the interest rate cutting cycle, led by the Fed; elections and geopolitics; first-quarter earnings results; market-specific politics; and (less fundamentally, but significantly) seasonality.” “. said the investment bank's analysts, as they revealed their latest additions to the list.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Amala Balakrishner

Many stocks look expensive in today's market, but there are still cheap stocks to be found — some of which can be held for the next 10 years, according to professionals.

They shared with CNBC Pro their tips for picking cheap stocks that hold long-term promise, as well as their top picks.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

-Weezin Tan

South Korea Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate The inflation rate rose to 2.8% in March, compared to 2.6% in February.

The labor force participation rate reached 64.3% in March, up 0.2 percentage points year-on-year.

Separately, the employment-to-population ratio reached 62.4%, an increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

– Lim Hui Ji

Crude oil futures fell on Thursday as concerns about inflation outweighed fears of a possible Iranian strike on Israel for the time being.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for May delivery lost $1.19, or 1.38%, to settle at $85.02 a barrel. Brent crude futures for June fell 74 cents, or 0.82%, to settle at $89.74 per barrel.

Oil prices rose more than 1% on Wednesday after Bloomberg News reported that the United States and its allies see an Iranian strike against Israel as imminent.

But the geopolitical risks that had lifted prices in the previous session eased on Thursday as the attack had yet to materialize, according to Phil Flynn, chief market analyst at Price Futures Group.

-Spencer Kimball

Amazon shares rose 1.7% on Thursday and reached an all-time high. This is the first time the stock has hit a record high since July 2021.

CEO Andy Jassy issued his annual letter to shareholders on Thursday, pledging to cut costs while increasing investments in new areas such as artificial intelligence.

New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said Thursday that he still expects inflation to continue to decline this year, although he acknowledged that the process will not be smooth.

“I expect inflation to continue its gradual return to 2 percent, although there are likely to be bumps along the way, as we have seen in some recent inflation readings,” the central bank official said in a speech to bankers in New York.

The comments come a day after the March CPI reading showed inflation at 3.5% at an annual rate, well above the Fed's 2% target. While he noted progress in inflation from its peak — above 9% in June 2022 — he said the Fed's work is far from over.

“The economy has come a long way towards achieving better balance and reaching the 2% inflation target. But we have not seen the full alignment of our dual mandate yet. I am committed to achieving maximum employment and price stability in the long term,” he said.

– Jeff Cox

The Producer Price Index rose 0.2% in March, as investors try to deal with a mix of mixed inflation signals. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a 0.3% increase for the producer price index. Core CPI rose 0.2%, as expected.

-Fred Imbert