Visitors outside the US Treasury building in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023.
Nathan Howard | Bloomberg | Getty Images
This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
What you need to know today
Mixed markets
U.S. stocks traded mixed Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average the only major index to rise. Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Tuesday as investors await Biden’s meeting with Xi. South Korea’s Kosdaq index rose around 2.2%, snapping a five-day losing streak. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.8% even as a survey showed the country’s consumer confidence slipping in November.
Biden-Xi meeting
U.S. President Joe Biden is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday. That’ll be the second time both leaders have met in person since Biden took office. Relations between the world’s largest and second-largest economies have been rocky since an alleged Chinese spy balloon flew into U.S. airspace February. Hence, Biden and Xi will likely focus on “prevent[ing] a crisis,” according to a political commentator.
Consumer spending fell
U.S. October retail sales, excluding autos and gas, fell 0.08% month on month, while core retail, which excludes restaurants, declined 0.03%, according to the new CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor. The data differs from the Census Bureau’s retail sales report as it’s the result of actual consumer purchases — analyzing over 9 billion anonymized credit and debit card transactions — while the Census relies on survey responses.
Exxon invests in green tech
Exxon Mobil, one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, said it aims to become a leading producer of lithium for electric vehicle batteries. The company will kick off this plan through a drilling operation it’s launching at a geological site it purchased earlier this year in southern Arkansas. Exxon said it will produce battery-grade lithium at the site as soon as 2027.
[PRO] One index’s 11% jump
U.S. stocks have long outpaced global indexes. But Morgan Stanley thinks one major Asian stock index — which has already popped about 25% thus far this year, more than two times the 10.5% of the S&P 500 — will continue its blitz, soaring 11% in 2024. The country’s currency will strengthen next year, boosting stocks exposed to international trade, said the bank.
The bottom line
This week will be a significant one for markets. October’s consumer price index comes out later today, while on Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in person for the first time since last November. Investors, focused on the week ahead, are already shrugging off bad news from last week.
On Friday, Moody’s Investors Service cut its ratings outlook on the U.S. government from stable to negative. The ratings agency pointed to the country’s large fiscal deficits and…