Asia-Pacific markets fall as investors assess Moody's U.S. downgrade, China data

This is C온라인카지노사이트's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Asia-Pacific markets fell Monday as investors assess the latest slate of economic data from China and Moody's downgrade of the U.S. credit rating.

China's retail sales growth slowed in April, signaling that consumption remains a worry for the world's second-largest economy.

Retail sales  in April, missing Reuters' estimates of 5.5% growth.  grew 6.1% year on year in April, stronger than analysts' expectations for a 5.5% rise, while  in March, indicating the impact from U.S. tariffs was not as harsh as was being expected.

Hong Kong's declined 0.05% to close at 23,332.72 while mainland China's CSI 300 dropped 0.48%.

Japan's benchmark slipped 0.68% to close at 37,498.63 while the Topix lost 0.08% to end the trading day at 2,738.39. South Korea's declined 0.89% to close at 2,603.42 and the small-cap Kosdaq traded 1.56% lower to close at 713.75.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.58% to close at 8,295.1.

The Reserve Bank of Australia kickstarts its two-day meeting.

On Friday, Moody's Ratings by one level from Aaa to Aa1, citing mounting challenges in funding the federal budget deficit and the increasing cost of refinancing debt in a high-interest-rate environment.

With this downgrade, Moody's has joined the . S&P made the first move in 2011, and Fitch followed suit in 2023, both reducing the U.S. rating to AA+.

Moody's latest rating downgrade on its own may not cause a big sell-off in U.S. stock and bond markets as seen from the 2011 and 2023 rating downgrades, Vasu Menon, OCBC's managing director of the investment strategy team said in a note.

"It does however reinforce concerns about the growing U.S. budget deficit and debt, but these are not new and have been discussed extensively for the past few months, and even years," he noted.

declined after the S&P 500 posted a four-day rally on the back of U.S. and China's temporary tariff cuts and encouraging inflation reports. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 292 points, or 0.7%. S&P 500 futures slipped 0.7%, while Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.8%.

the three major averages closed mixed. The  rose for a fifth session and posted a sharp weekly gain, as investors looked past the release of disappointing consumer sentiment data and persistent inflation worry.

The broad market index climbed 0.70% to end at 5,958.38, while the  gained 0.52% to close at 19,211.10. The  gained 331.99 points, or 0.78%, settling at 42,654.74. Friday's advance put the 30-stock benchmark into positive territory for 2025.

— C온라인카지노사이트's Brian Evans, Pia Singh and Tanaya Macheel contributed to this report.

Nvidia treading an "interesting" geopolitical tightrope with move into Taiwan: Analyst

Nvidia's plans to move into Taiwan signals the chipmaker's intention to shift away from being an "American company," Ray Wang, principal analyst, founder and chairman at Constellation Research told C온라인카지노사이트's "Inside India" Monday.

The decision which was announced by CEO Jensen Huang in his keynote speech at the 2025 Computex AI Exhibition in Taipei, will help the company manage China's chips export controls and could also be a "protective barrier for the Taiwanese government for attacks from China", Wang added.

However, the move could draw "backlash" given the chipmaker's recent as part of the White House-led visit to the region last week, he noted.

"The deals that were signed in the Middle East were really based on the fact that Nvidia was an American company, so I think there will be a lot of backlash if they were to move ... It would be walking a fine line and an interesting tightrope in terms of geopolitics," he said.

- Joan Theng, Neha Hegde

UK and European Union agree to post-Brexit reset deal, sources tell C온라인카지노사이트

The U.K. and European Union finally agreed to reset relations Monday, sources told C온라인카지노사이트, after Britain's acrimonious exit from the European bloc in 2020.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is hosting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other senior officials in London for a much-anticipated summit which is taking place against a backdrop of unpredictable global dynamics — led by the U.S.

Read the full story .

—Holly Ellyatt, Silvia Amaro

China's deflation may persist on back of still-elevated tariffs, says Morgan Stanley

China's deflation may persist due to ongoing high tariffs and a reactive policy stance, Morgan Stanley wrote in a note published Monday.

"Deflation still lingers, given still elevated tariffs, and possibly lighter and later additional stimulus," the investment bank's economists said, adding that U.S. trade-weighted tariffs on Chinese goods still stand at 40%, well above the 11% level before 2025.

"This means final demand would still weaken after near-term export front-loading, exacerbating domestic excess capacity issue and thus deflation," they elaborated.

—Lee Ying Shan

Thailand's GDP growth slows in first quarter, but still beats expectations

expanded 3.1% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, beating expectations, but recording a slightly slower growth compared to the prior quarter.

The 3.1% figure was slower than the revised 3.3% seen in the fourth quarter of 2024, but was higher than the 2.9% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

While the largest contributors to the GDP growth were exports, public investment and manufacturing, private investment contracted, Thailand's National Economic and Social Development Council said.

The growth forecast for Southeast Asia's second-largest economy was cut from 1.3% to 2.3%, down from its previous range of 2.3% to 3.3%.

— Lim Hui Jie

China's April retail sales growth of 5.1% misses expectations as consumption remains a worry

China's retail sales growth slowed in April, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Monday, signaling that consumption remains a worry for the world's second-largest economy.

Retail sales rose 5.1% from a year earlier in April, missing analysts' estimates of 5.5% growth, according to a Reuters poll. Sales had grown by 5.9% in the previous month.

Industrial output grew 6.1% year on year in April, stronger than analysts' expectations for a 5.5% rise.

Fixed-asset investment for the first four months this year, which includes property and infrastructure investment, expanded 4.0%, slightly lower than analysts' expectations for a 4.2% growth in a Reuters poll.

Read the full story .

—Anniek Bao

Shares of South Korean tire manufacturer fall over 7% after fire shutdown

Shares of South Korea's second largest tire maker Kumho Tire fell over 7% after it .

Around 400 staff members were evacuated when the fire broke out Saturday morning local time, . The blaze is believed to have been sparked by equipment used to heat raw rubber materials.

South Korean officials had also launched a nationwide firefighting mobilization order as the flames escalated, according to the Korean Herald.

—Lee Ying Shan

Stocks close higher

Stocks closed higher on Friday and closed out a strong week that saw investors flood back into risk assets, which also put the S&P 500 into the green for the year.

The broad market index advanced 0.70% to close at 5,958.38, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.52% to 19,211.10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 331.99 points, or 0.78%, to finish the session at 42,654.74.

— Brian Evans