(Bloomberg) — Asian equities were set to join a rally in US shares and Bitcoin in a sign investors are looking through the latest tariff headlines to focus on corporate profits and the economy.
Equity-index futures for Japan and Australia climbed early Thursday while those for Hong Kong were flat. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.7%, helped along by tech gains that pushed Nvidia Corp to become the first company in history to touch $4 trillion in market value. The real tumbled after President Donald Trump unveiled a new round of trade demand letters on Wednesday that included imposing 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods.
Investors have been piling back into the AI trade after a choppy first half of 2025. The equity rally indicated traders were brushing off fears Trump’s latest push on reciprocal tariffs would lead to a meaningful slowdown for the global economy or company earnings.
“Most investors believe that the economy is strong, corporate profits will be resilient and are eager to buy stocks,” said Chris Zaccarelli at Northlight Asset Management. “We believe more caution is warranted because we haven’t yet seen the impact of tariffs on corporate profits and consumer spending,” he said.
Treasuries climbed Wednesday after a solid $39 billion sale, snapping a recent sell-off. US 10-year yields fell seven basis points to 4.33%. A sale of the bonds drew a yield of 4.362%, slightly lower than indicated by pre-auction trading just before the bidding deadline, indicating demand exceeded expectations. A $22 billion offering of 30-year debt is set for Thursday.
The emerging divide among Federal Reserve officials over the outlook for interest rates is being driven largely by differing expectations for how tariffs might affect inflation, a record of policymakers’ most recent meeting showed.
“While a few participants noted that tariffs would lead to a one-time increase in prices and would not affect longer-term inflation expectations, most participants noted the risk that tariffs could have more persistent effects on inflation,” the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s June 17-18 meeting said.
On tariffs, Trump on Wednesday said he would levy a 30% rate on Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Sri Lanka, with 25% duties on products from Brunei and Moldova and a 20% rate on goods from the Philippines. The levies were largely in line with rates Trump had initially announced in April against those countries, though Iraq’s duties are down from 39% and Sri Lanka’s reduced from 44%.
Brazil’s 50% rate marked one of the highest levies announced so far, and are set to hit in August. Trump cited the treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro in his letter to the nation, calling on authorities to drop charges against him over an alleged coup attempt. Brazil will respond to the US using its reciprocity law, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.
Elsewhere, an auction of 20-year Japanese government bonds Thursday will beam the searchlight back on rising yields as a looming election heightens concerns about fiscal expansion. Japanese telecom giant NTT Inc. received more than $100 billion of investor orders as it sold bonds to help refinance bridge loans used to increase its stake in the data-center unit being taken private.
Wednesday’s equity rally pushed the S&P 500 to within a few points of its record high. The CNN Fear & Greed Index is now signaling “extreme greed,” an indication of the market’s bullish momentum. A gauge of megacaps added 1.1%, with Nvidia extending this year’s surge to more than 20%. In another sign of risk appetite, Bitcoin topped $112,000 for the first time.
Fast-money investors are edging their way back into US stocks after sitting out a furious rally, bolstering the case for equities to extend their advance further into uncharted territory.
“We believe the setup for equity markets looks bullish, even in light of renewed trade-war jitters,” said Craig Johnson at Piper Sandler. “While equities may come under some near-term pressure, investors are increasingly becoming numb to the tariff headlines and instead focusing on the trendlines.”
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 8:19 a.m. Tokyo time
- Hang Seng futures were little changed
- S&P/ASX 200 futures rose 0.5%
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
- The euro was little changed at $1.1724
- The Japanese yen was little changed at 146.19 per dollar
- The offshore yuan was unchanged at 7.1828 per dollar
- The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.6536
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin rose 0.6% to $111,472.81
- Ether rose 1.4% to $2,778.31
Bonds
- Australia’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 4.28%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3% to $68.17 a barrel
- Spot gold rose 0.1% to $3,318.52 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Richard Henderson.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.