Asian markets were mostly higher after Wall Street rebounded on Friday

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon says it’s time for South Korea to get its own nuclear weapons program.

“I am strongly calling for South Korea to be prepared for the option of its own nuclear program or an enhanced nuclear umbrella with the United States that is at the same level as NATO’s nuclear sharing,” Oh told CNBC’s Cheri Kang.

“I think now is the time for that,” he said, adding that the public perception that the nation should have its own nukes was a “natural” one, pointing to North Korea’s frequent missile and nuclear tests.

– Jihye Lee

Morgan Stanley strategist Joon Seok has set a target of 2,750 for the South Korean market in 2023, just 9% from its current stable of 2,520.29.

Speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Road” in South Korea, he said there are three elements investors should watch out for: monetary policy, corporate earnings and the country’s capital reform effort.

As for monetary policy, the key question is when the rate cut will come, he said, adding that the Bank of Korea was one of the first banks in Asia to pause its interest rate hikes.

In terms of corporate earnings, he says, in a multipolar world, there will be “higher opportunities and risks” for Korean companies, noting that the company is bullish on the technology goods and materials sector.

“We see Korean technology as one of the big beneficiaries,” he told CNBC.

Jun added that South Korean companies have “pre-emptively fixed” potential problems in the global supply chain, and “have a lot of intellectual property that really helps us.”

– Lim Hui Jee

Shares in Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings rose as much as 0.94%, even after regulators raised the bank’s capital requirements.

On Friday, TBS experienced widespread disruption to its digital banking and ATM services, the second outage in less than two months.

According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore DBS’s additional capital requirement is now a multiple of 1.8 times risk-weighted assets for operational risk – approximately 1.6 billion Singapore dollars ($1.21 billion) in total additional regulatory capital.

In February 2022, MAS applied a multiplier of 1.5 times for another disruption in November 2021.

Japan’s services sector expanded at a record pace in April, a private survey showed.

au Jibun Bank Japan’s services purchasing managers’ index came in at 55.4, up from March’s figure of 54.9 and marking its fifth straight month in expansion territory.

A reading above 50 indicates sector expansion, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Japan’s composite PMI – which combines manufacturing and services sector figures – came in unchanged at 52.9 in April.

This marks the fastest growth since June 2022, and the fourth consecutive month the composite PMI has remained above the 50 mark.

– Lim Hui Jee

Board members of the Bank of Japan discussed concerns about inflation rising more than expected. minutes From the funeral of former governor Haruhiko Kuroda.

“While the current situation is a phase of close monitoring of whether a virtuous cycle between prices and wages will be achieved, some members recognized that due attention is needed to the risk of prices rising more than expected,” the minutes said.

Members of the central bank’s board shared a recognition that “the rate of growth is projected to moderate again” after a mid-2023 fiscal fall.

They also warned against “urgent” changes in the central bank’s monetary policy, including an inflation target of 2%.

One member said, “the risk of a hasty policy change leading to a loss of opportunity to achieve the price stability objective should be considered more important than the risk of a delay in policy change,” the minutes show.

– Jihye Lee

China’s trade surplus will narrow slightly to $74.3 billion in April from $88.2 billion in March, a Reuters poll of economists showed.

Exports are forecast to grow 8% year-on-year after growing 14.8% in March, while imports are expected to remain unchanged after a 1.4% year-on-year decline in the previous month.

Softer trade data in April may reflect “residual seasonality” after this year’s Lunar New Year, Goldman Sachs economists said in a note on Monday.

“We expect this reduction in seasonal bias to dampen export growth in April. We expect import growth to slow on a month-over-month basis,” the economists wrote, adding that holiday-related seasonal patterns were less pronounced in imports.

The economy is due to report its inflation data later in the week.

– Jihye Lee

A number of economic data releases are expected in Asia-Pacific markets next week, including China’s inflation, India’s industrial production and the Philippines’ trade balance.

On Monday, Taiwan reports its trade data. Citi’s economists said in April that Taiwan’s exports fell 21.4% year-on-year and imports fell 22.6% year-on-year.

“Non-tech exports to China have yet to recover (as indicated by trade data from China) and lower commodity prices will reduce the value of exports,” Citi economists wrote in a Thursday note.

China’s April trade data will also be released on Tuesday, along with Malaysia’s GDP.

South Korea’s current account balance for March and unemployment rate for April are expected on Wednesday.

China’s producer price index and consumer price index are due to be released on Thursday. In March, China’s CPI reading rose marginally by 0.7% year-on-year, while PPI marked a year-on-year decline of 2.5%. The Philippines reports its GDP for the first quarter on this day.

India’s industrial production for March will be released on Friday after marking a 5.6% year-on-year growth in February. Citi economists expect the first print to fall below 5% after November 2021, to 4.8% annually.

– Jihye Lee

Morgan Stanley predicts that global spending on education will reach $8 trillion by 2030, saying the market is likely to “begin to be enabled by technology.”

Morgan Stanley named seven stock picks to exploit this trend.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read about four of them here.

– Weissen Don

Major European companies have posted massive gains over the past two weeks.

However, according to Bank of America strategists, the company’s earnings estimates had more downgrades than upgrades by analysts.

The investment bank screened for European large-cap stocks, which saw gains in earnings per share net of revisions.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about the 10 stocks they highlighted.

– Ganesh Rao

Analysts on Wall Street see Apple’s latest results as another sign of the tech giant’s current retrenchment and defensive stance.

According to Evercore ISI’s Amit Dharyanani, the findings underscore the company’s diverse revenue streams and show the iPhone’s “consumer-centric nature.”

The stock rose 2.7% in premarket trading.

Read more about what analysts are saying after Apple’s results here.

WTI crude oil ( JUN ) rose 4.05% to $71.34 on Friday, up from $71.81 on Friday. This is the highest level since May 2^n.d. While WTI traded up to $71.42

Meanwhile, WTI Crude 3 is down -7.09% on the week to date^rd Direct negative week and WTI crude lost worst week since March 17 -12.96%

Brent rose 3.86% to $75.30, before closing at $75.75. Brent closed -3 to 5.33% WTD^rd Positive negative week.

Natural gas ( JUN ) rose 1.71% to $2.137 after hitting a low of $2.031. Nat gas closed -11.33% for the first negative week in 4 and the worst week since March 10, when natural gas lost -19.24% and natural gas fell 52.25% in 2023.

– Hakyung Kim

The U.S. economy added 253,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department said. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect 180,000 jobs to be added. The report comes after the Federal Reserve raised rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday and signaled that a pause could be on the horizon.

– Jeff Cox, Fred Imbert

Regional bank stocks extended Friday’s rally, led by PacWest, with gains of more than 70%.

However, the stock still has a long way to go to recover all its losses since this year. In fact, PacWest shares are trading below where they closed on Wednesday.