Asia stocks track Wall Street gains as softer-than-expected U.S. jobs data fuels rate

Shares of iPhone manufacturer Foxconn spiked as much as 6.73% after the company reported a 19.03% year-on-year rise in April revenue.

Foxconn, which trades as Hon Hai Precision Industry in Taiwan, recorded 510.9 billion New Taiwan dollars ($15.83 billion) in revenue in April, compared to the NT$447.54 billion recorded in March.

The company said that its component business, as well as its cloud and networking products “delivered strong growth,” while its smart consumer electronics and computing products segment “showed significant year on year growth in revenue.”

A private survey showed the expansion in China’s services activity slowed slightly in April from March.

The Caixin/S&P Global services purchasing managers’ index came in at 52.5 in April, ticking down from 52.7 in March.

“Although slightly softer, growth was again solid and has now been sustained for 16 consecutive months,” the survey read.

A PMI reading above 50 indicates an expansion in activity, while a reading below that level points to a contraction.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Business activity in Hong Kong’s private sector expanded at a slower pace in April, according to S&P Global.

The purchasing managers’ index for the city slipped to 50.6 from March’s 50.9.

Jingyi Pan, Economics Associate Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the reading signaled another improvement in business conditions at the start of the second quarter.

However, Pan said the growth appears to be on “shaky ground,” highlighting that forward-looking indicators, such as the decline in new business orders in April, hinted at softening conditions.

— Lim Hui Jie

Big Tech names like Nvidia have been on fire, thanks to the artificial intelligence boom — and other chipmakers are sharing the limelight.

The supply chain for AI is extensive. It includes companies in Asia-Pacific and ranges from producers of AI graphics processing units to printed circuit boards.

Memory chips in particular have been in the spotlight as AI ramps up.

Two stocks have dominated the memory chip market: Samsung and SK Hynix.

Which is the better play on the AI boom? CNBC Pro spoke to the pros to find out.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Goldman Sachs just refreshed its lists of top global stock picks, adding some and removing others.

Called the “Conviction List – Directors’ Cut,” the lists capture names across Europe and Asia-Pacific.

The investment banks’ “Conviction List – Directors’ Cut” seeks to offer investors a “curated and active” list of 15 to 25 buy-rated stocks.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more on the latest additions here.

— Amala Balakrishner

The fund has gained more than 4% compared with the start of 2024.

— Alex Harring, Gina Francolla

The nonfarm payrolls report for April showed 175,000 jobs added, below the 240,000 jobs expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9%, compared to 3.8% in the prior month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Revisions to February and March jobs numbers decreased the cumulative jobs added in those periods by 22,000.

— Jesse Pound

The Japanese yen was trading at 152.93 against the U.S. dollar and was set to end its best week in more than a year, despite hitting its weakest level since 1990 on Monday at 160.03.

Analysts, including from Bank of America, have suggested there were likely two interventions carried out by Japanese authorities during the week, on Monday and Wednesday. The authorities are yet to make an official statement to confirm the interventions.

“The government has been refusing to disclose whether they’ve been intervening or not, but I don’t think many people have any doubts,” Nicholas Smith, Japan strategist at CLSA, told CNBC.

The yen has recovered some 4.5% since it hit a 34-year low on Monday.