Asian markets rise as China’s factory activity contracts for fourth straight month

China’s factory activity remained in contraction territory for the fourth straight month, with the purchasing managers’ index coming in at 49.3, compared with the 49.2 expected by economists polled by Reuters.

According to the country’s national statistics agency, the PMI level is also higher than the 49.0 recorded in June.

The July non-manufacturing PMI came in at 51.3, compared to June’s figure of 53.2.

— Lim Hui Jie

Just as Chinese electric car companies may need cash, foreign automakers need the market — not just in China, but globally.

Xpeng’s cash holdings have almost halved in the first quarter from the end of 2022, and its shipments have stagnated at several thousand per month.

Volkswagen isn’t doing much better in China’s EV market, averaging just over 10,000 vehicles delivered each month in the first half of the year. But the German carmaker has far more money.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Evelyn Cheng

The market rally has been strong this year, but there are still some relatively cheap stocks.

CNBC Pro screened for stocks that are cheaper than those in the broader S&P 500 and MSCI World indexes, with at least 20% upside.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Shares are flying high this year. The Nasdaq is up 35% and the S&P 500 isn’t far behind despite a relentless Fed rate hike.

But according to Andrew Slimmon, a lead senior portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, there’s every reason to be a “little cautious” coming out of the busiest week in terms of earnings.

Slimmon also shared some of the technical picks to buy after earnings season.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Ganesh Rao

Technology stocks rose on Friday, boosting the Nasdaq Composite by more than 2% Friday midday.

Big winners included tech giants and semiconductor stocks. Alphabet, Amazon and Netflix rose about 3% each, while Meta Platforms rose more than 4%, bringing its weekly gains to nearly 11%. Nvidia added 2%, while Applied Materials and KLA Corp gained more than 4% each. Tesla rose 4 percent.

Lucid Group rose nearly 8%, while Intel rose nearly 7% on better-than-expected earnings and a return to profitability. Other winners included Chinese tech stocks JD.com and PDD, which are up 5% and 7% respectively.

—Samantha Subin

Communications services outperformed the S&P 500 on Friday. The sector was higher by 1.8 per cent.

Big advances included Meta Platforms, which rose more than 2.8%. Warner Bros. Discovery rose 2.5 per cent. Alphabet added 2.4 per cent.

—Sarah Min

The employment cost index, a measure the Federal Reserve views as an important indicator of underlying inflation, rose less than expected in the second quarter.

The index rose 1% for the three-month period ending in June, slightly below the 1.1% estimate. This is stated by the Ministry of Labour Friday.

On a year-over-year basis, compensation costs rose 4.5%, slightly ahead of the 4.1% increase in core inflation as reported Friday by the Commerce Department. The annual ECI level was below 5.1% from the previous year.

-Jeff Cox

Inflation showed further signs of cooling in June, according to a gauge released Friday that the Federal Reserve watches closely.

The price index for personal consumption expenditure excl. food and energy rose just 0.2% from the previous month, in line with the Dow Jones estimate, the Commerce Department said.

So-called core PCE rose 4.1% from a year ago, compared to estimates for 4.2%. The annual rate was the lowest since September 2021.

– Jeff Cox