Asia-Pacific markets subdued after Trump's attack on Fed chair sends Wall Street tumbling

The Japanese yen has appreciated beyond the psychological 140 level against the dollar as investors continue to flock to the safe haven currency amid market turmoil.

The recent U.S. dollar sell-off has seen safe haven currencies like the Swiss franc and yen strengthen, with the latter appreciating over 10% against the greenback since the start of the year, data from LSEG showed. The last time the yen fell below the 140-level was in September 2024.

The bullish case for the yen is particularly noteworthy on the back of U.S.-Japan negotiations with regards to tariffs, Barclays wrote in a recent note.

—Lee Ying Shan

China's CATL, the world's largest supplier of EV batteries, announced a set of new incoming products Monday, including a battery it claims has set a "new global record for superfast charging technology."

In a post on WeChat, the company — Contemporary Amperex Technology Company Ltd. — said that its second-generation Shenxing battery could add 520 km (323 miles) of driving range from just five minutes of charging time— only slightly longer than it takes to refuel gas cars.

This appears to put CATL's fast charging ahead of that of Chinese EV giant and Tesla rival BYD, which last month surprised the industry with a charging system it claimed could add about 400 km in range to its batteries also in about 5 minutes. 

Shares of CATL rose 1.261%.

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—Dylan Butts, Lee Ying Shan

The Federal Reserve was facing the 'toughest challenge' yet as stagflation risks are rising due to tariffs, Gareth Nicholson, Chief Investment Officer at Nomura told CNBC. He sees the 30-year treasury yields reaching 5% and rotation trade out of U.S. markets to continue.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has done a "fantastic job" thus far and now faces a lot on his plate from managing monetary policy to dealing with headwinds from Trump, Nicholson added.

— Penny Chen, Neha Hegde

The dollar has been sliding and the ripple effects on other currencies has brought a mix of relief and headache to central banks around the world.

Uncertainty about U.S. policymaking has led to a flight out of the U.S. dollar and Treasurys in recent weeks, with the dollar index weakening more than 9% so far this year. Market watchers see further declines. 

According to Bank of America's most recent Global Fund Manager Survey, a net 61% of participants anticipate a decline in the dollar's value over the next 12 months — the most pessimistic outlook of major investors in almost 20 years.

The exodus from U.S. assets may reflect a broader crisis of confidence, with potential spillovers such as higher imported inflation as the dollar weakens.

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—Lee Ying Shan

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Monday hailed the "significant" progress made in trade talks between the two sides during Vance's visit to India.

Vance, who was in India on a mostly personal trip with second lady Usha Vance and his family, met Modi in New Delhi.

A statement from Modi's office said the two leaders "welcomed the significant progress in the negotiations for a mutually beneficial India-U.S. Bilateral Trade Agreement."

Vance and Modi also reviewed and positively assessed the progress in various areas of bilateral cooperation, and noted "continued efforts" in enhancing cooperation in areas like energy, defense and strategic technologies.

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—Lim Hui Jie

Japanese investment bank and brokerage group Nomura said Tuesday it will buy the North American and European public investments business of Australian investment banking company Macquarie for $1.8 billion.

The all-cash deal is expected to close by the end of this year, subject to regulatory approvals.

Nomura said it has "identified global asset management as a key strategic growth priority for the organization," adding that this would increase the assets under management of its investment management division to $770 billion, up from the $590 billion currently.

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—Lim Hui Jie

The Bank of Japan is likely to pause rate hikes in its May meeting in part due to market uncertainty and softer inflation, said Moody's Analytics.

"The Bank of Japan looks set to hold its fire at its upcoming policy meeting, with tariff uncertainty and jittery financial markets forcing a pause," wrote Stefan Angrick, Moody's Analytics' head of Japan and frontier markets economics.

Washington's reciprocal tariffs announcements earlier in April triggered a sharp markets sell-off, fueling the kind of volatility that the Bank of Japan prefers to avoid when changing policy, he added.

The country's inflation grew 3.6% year on year in March, marking three straight years that the headline inflation figure is above the Bank of Japan's 2% target.

However, the central bank is not done tightening rates, thanks to sticky inflation and improving wage dynamics. Additionally, the Japanese yen still remains weaker than economic fundamentals suggest even though it appreciated recently, which adds to the case for more tightening down the road, the economist noted.

—Lee Ying Shan

Gold prices rose to a fresh record high, with some analysts seeing more room for bullion prices to run after U.S. President Donald Trump's pressure campaign on Fed chair Jerome Powell.

Gold futures on the U.S. Commodity Exchange were up to $3,436 per ounce while spot gold prices are at $3,425.26 per ounce.

"President Donald Trump's push against Fed President Jerome Powell could fuel more caution on international markets and a flight toward safe-haven instruments and away from U.S. assets," said Konstantinos Chrysikos from finance broker Kudotrade.

—Lee Ying Shan

Stocks ended Monday in the red, although they came back from their session lows in the late afternoon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 971.82 points, or 2.48%, to settle at 38,170.41. The S&P 500 shed 2.36% to finish at 5,158.20, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 2.55% and closed at 15,870.90.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Bitcoin hit its highest level of the month, reaching $88,557.01 at one point as the stock market sold off yet again. It was last trading about 3% higher at $87,040.70.

"This move is less about enthusiasm and more about exhaustion. Risk markets are rotating," said Ben Kurland, CEO at crypto research platform DYOR. "What we're seeing is a slow bleed from overextended positions into safer liquidity. Bitcoin's bounce isn't driven by momentum traders, it's the result of sidelined capital inching back into the market while equities digest macro uncertainty. In other words, risk isn't off, it's just being repriced."

Bitcoin was trading more in line with stocks for much of the month amid tariff-fueled volatility and uncertainty, but has slowly been decoupling. It's up about 5% in April while the S&P 500 is down more than 8% in that period. Meanwhile, gold is up 9.5% on the month.

If bitcoin can meaningfully clear the $88,000 level it would be a positive near-term development for the crypto asset, putting next resistance near $95,900, according to Fairlead Strategies' Katie Stockton.

— Tanaya Macheel

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index fell as low as 97.92 on Monday, its lowest level since March 2022.

The latest drop for the greenback comes after Friday's criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell from President Donald Trump. Krishna Guha, vice chairman at Evercore ISI, said Monday on "Squawk Box," said those comments by Trump could add more fuel to the trend of foreign investors pulling out of the U.S.

"We're seeing a clear signal from the market that it doesn't like even the idea that the president might try to remove the Fed chair. There has been some loss of confidence in U.S. economic policy making in recent weeks. We've seen that in this very odd combination of upward pressure at times on longer-term bond yields combined with a weaker dollar. That suggests global investors pulling capital out of the U.S.," Krishna Guha, vice chairman at Evercore ISI, said Monday on "Squawk Box."

— Jesse Pound