China’s National Health Commission releases guidelines for treating Covid at home
China’s health authorities announced guidelines for treating Covid patients at home on Thursday, a day after formalizing a policy that allows most infected persons to quarantine at home, as part of easing measures in the country.
The notice on the National Health Commission’s website said patients should isolate in a separate room if possible, and self administer antigen tests.
While noting patients with acute symptoms should go to a hospital, the announcement included instructions for patients with milder symptoms to monitor their health at home and take medicine as needed. The commission included a list of medicines used to treat Covid.
Health authorities are scheduled to hold another press conference at 3 p.m. local time.
— Abigail Ng, Evelyn Cheng
Hong Kong mulls dropping outdoor mask rules: Report
Fitch expects home prices in Australia and China to decline in 2023
Fitch Ratings expects home prices in Australia to see a significant drop of between 7% to 10% next year, it said in its latest outlook report.
The agency also predicts that China’s home prices will fall by 1% to 3% next year.
“We expect prices to decline further in 2023 before bottoming out but mortgage performance to only modestly deteriorate, in the face of economic headwinds,” Tracy Wan of Fitch Ratings said in the report.
However, home prices in Japan could buck the trend to rise by 2% to 4% in 2023, the report said. Australia’s prices are forecast to rise in 2024.
– Jihye Lee
Japan’s economy contracted less than expected in third quarter
Japan’s economy saw an annualized quarterly contraction of 0.8% in the third quarter, with the revised gross domestic product reading beating expectations in a Reuters survey for a 1.1% contraction.
The government’s first preliminary estimate released in November was a 1.2% decline.
The nation also reported a 64.1 billion yen ($469.3 million) deficit in its unadjusted current account balance, government data showed. The reading significantly missed estimates for a surplus of 623.4 billion yen in a separate Reuters poll.
– Jihye Lee
Australia’s trade surplus larger than expected in October
Australia’s trade surplus for October came in at 12.2 billion Australian dollars ($8.19 billion), slightly larger than expected, official data showed.
Economists polled by Reuters predicted a print of 12.1 billion Australian dollars, expecting a further drop than reported – after the economy saw a trade surplus of 12.4 billion Australian dollars.
Exports fell 0.9%, and imports declined 0.7%.
— Abigail Ng
Stocks close mostly lower
Stocks closed mostly lower Wednesday, with the S&P 500 slipping 0.19% to close at 3,933.92.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat, or 1.58 points higher, to finish the session at 33,597.92. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.51% to end at 10,958.55.
— Samantha Subin
CNBC Pro: Bank of America says these two global chip stocks could rise by 75% on EV car sales
A shortage of semiconductors during a boom in electric-vehicle sales could help raise profits at a handful of chip makers, according to Bank of America.
The Wall Street bank predicted that two chip stocks could see their share prices rise by more than 75% on the back of that trend.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Ganesh Rao
Pending economic data could launch a rally into next year, says Morgan Stanley’s Slimmon
Don’t be surprised if economic data coming out over the next week kicks off a rally into the end of the year and potentially 2023, according to Andrew Slimmon, Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s senior portfolio manager.
The key period of data releases begins Friday with the producer price index, followed by November’s consumer price index and another likely rate hike from the Federal Reserve next week.
“The last time those were released they all led to rallies in the stock market because we had better inflation prints,” he said.
Like many investors, Slimmon expects a downturn ahead, given the inverted yield curve, but does not anticipate the “big earnings collapse,” or downturn, many people are predicting in the first quarter.
This is in part due to the fact that many consumers have beefed up savings in recent years given the proximity of the most recent recession.
“The message of this year is that the economy has proven far more resilient than many people expect and I don’t think next quarter is going to be the end of that,” he said.
— Samantha Subin
CNBC Pro: Is Apple a stock to buy or avoid? Two investors face off
It’s been a tumultuous year for tech companies, as investors flee growth stocks in the face of rising interest rates, and other headwinds.
Apple has held up better amid the tech carnage, although there have been some headwinds.
Two investors faced off on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Wednesday to make a case for and against buying the stock.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Weizhen Tan
