The U.S. stock rally may have finally hit a wall, with futures trading below fair value this morning. The bond market is in focus today, with 10-year Treasury yields climbing north of the key 2.5% level after Bloomberg reported China may slow or stop the purchase of U.S. bonds. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI), S&P 500 Index (SPX), and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) appear ready to retreat after making history on Tuesday, oil prices continue to climb ahead of today's domestic crude supply update. At last check, February crude futures were trading up 0.9% at $64.54 per barrel.
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Asian stock markets saw mixed trade today. Chinese stocks mostly closed higher, with the Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng both adding 0.2%, even though inflation data in the region fell short of estimates. This brings the two indexes respective daily win streaks to nine and 12. Over in Japan, the Nikkei fell 0.3%. Like in China, financial stocks outperformed, as did shares of automakers, but pullbacks in heavyweights like SoftBank had the index lower at the close. South Korea's Kospi, meanwhile, dipped 0.4%.
Major equity benchmarks are struggling for upside in Europe at the session's halfway point. Bank stocks in the region are tracking their Asian counterparts, however, standing out as one of the few bright spots thus far. Meanwhile, investors are digesting a round of economic data, as U.K. manufacturing output for November came in strong, but French industrial production fell for the same month. The German DAX is the biggest loser so far, down 0.9%, and the French CAC 40 has shed 0.4%. The FTSE 100 is bucking the trend in London, last seen up 0.1%.