- As investors weighed hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials and geopolitical tensions, Asian stocks edged higher and the dollar was little changed.
- A report from Goldman Sachs Group predicting a rebound in Chinese stocks provided some relief to the flow of news dampening appetite for equities. Separately, Chinese lenders followed the central bank's lead and kept their benchmark lending rates unchanged on Monday, with analysts anticipating possible rate cuts in the coming months to help the economy recover.
- Following a weekend that saw no relief in US-China tensions, the dollar advanced against the majority of its group of ten peers. Beijing's top diplomat called the American reaction to the balloon it shot down "hysterical," while his counterpart, Anthony Blinken, called the balloon's entry into his country's airspace "irresponsible." North Korea, meanwhile, conducted an intercontinental ballistic missile test.
- Investors are focused on the changing interest rate outlook, with traders fully pricing in quarter-point rate increases at the Fed's next two meetings after policymakers said Thursday that larger hikes were not out of the question.
