Highlights for the morning: Japanese stocks hit a record, SpaceX aims for the moon
Elon Musk says SpaceX is focused on creating a "self-developing city" on the moon / Photo: Frederic Legrand - COMEO / Shutterstock.com
Japanese stocks hit a record after Sanae Takaichi's convincing victory amid expectations of stimulus policy. Elon Musk has shifted SpaceX's focus from Mars to the Moon. On these and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of February 9.
Japanese stocks hit a record after Takaichi's victory
The Japanese stock market rose sharply after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi won the election: the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won two-thirds of the seats in the lower house of parliament, CNBC reports. The Nikkei 225 index jumped more than 5% and the Topix index jumped more than 3%, both hitting all-time highs on expectations of continued stimulative economic policies in the spirit of "Abenomics," the channel noted.
Investors are betting on increased government spending and soft monetary policy, despite the strengthening of the yen and rising yields on government bonds, explains CNBC. Analysts consider the outcome of the election favorable for the market in the medium term, as it gives the Japanese authorities a mandate for an active fiscal policy and structural reforms.
Shares of Chinese chip developer soar on Hong Kong IPO
Shares of Montage Technology jumped about 60% on the first day of trading in Hong Kong after its $902 million IPO, CNBC reports. The papers traded well above the offering price amid huge demand: retail subscriptions were oversubscribed by more than 700 times. The company develops high-performance chips for data centers and AI and is already listed in mainland China.
Montage went public on the Hong Kong exchange as part of a wave of offerings by Chinese AI chipmakers amid Beijing's drive for technological self-sufficiency and restrictions on the supply of advanced chips from the US.
Musk has decided to shift SpaceX's focus from Mars to the Moon
Elon Musk said that SpaceX is focused on creating a "self-developing city" on the Moon, which can appear in less than 10 years, Reuters writes. The Mars city project remains in the plans for 5-7 years, but the billionaire prioritized a faster and more realistic lunar scenario amid global competition, including with China. Earlier, the company focused on an unmanned mission to Mars as early as this year.
The change in focus coincided with SpaceX's purchase of AI company xAI and preparations for a potential IPO that could raise up to $50 billion, the agency points out. Musk is also promoting the idea of space data centers and in parallel rebuilding Tesla, investing $20 billion in autonomous driving and humanoid robots, for which the company has curtailed production of some cars, recalled Reuters.
Bessent linked gold's fluctuations to speculation in China
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attributed the sharp movements in the gold market to the activity of Chinese traders and tightening margin requirements, calling the rally a "classic speculative overheating," Bloomberg reports. According to Bessent, the rise in gold prices was caused by speculative buying, geopolitical tensions and investors' fears about the independence of the Fed, but last week this excitement came to an abrupt end and the market turned downward.
What's in the markets
- Japan's broad Topix index jumped 2.5 percent, while the Nikkei 225 was up 4.4 percent.
- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 1.7 percent, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index was up 1.5 percent.
- In South Korea, the Kospi index rose nearly 4 percent and the Kosdaq rose 4.5 percent.
- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1.85%.
- Futures on the S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones rose about 0.1% after all three indexes rose sharply on Friday, February 6.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
