The Hang Seng index led gains in the Asia-Pacific region on Wednesday, powered by health-care and consumer cyclical stocks.

Shares of Geely saw the biggest moves, up 7.16% after the automaker posted a 45.6% year on year gain in revenue for the whole of 2022 and a 8.5% rise in profit.

Wuxi Biologics and Country Garden Holdings were also among the top gainers, advancing 4.68% and 5.43% respectively.

— Lim Hui Jie

Tech investor Paul Meeks has been bearish on tech for some time, but is finally beginning to warm up to the sector.

“I’m creeping back into the sector after long advocating an underweight position in it,” he told CNBC on Friday. He joins a chorus of investors who have turned more bullish on the sector in recent weeks.

Pro subscribers can read more about Meeks’ top stock picks here.

— Zavier Ong

China’s president, Xi Jinping, will wrap up his visit to Russia soon, and analysts argue Beijing will leverage its strong position to make gains from President Vladimir Putin.  

“Putin is weak, coming into these negotiations from real vulnerability,” said Timothy Ash, emerging markets strategist at BlueBay Asset Management, adding, he wondered “what price Xi will extract for saving Putin … he has to get something out of it.”

Overall, China has an upper hand economically over Russia, said Alicja Bachulska, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “If China supports Russia in a more substantial way this will continue even more,” she added.  

Read the full story here.

— Yeo Boon Ping, Holly Ellyatt

Morgan Stanley says it’s “time to turn bullish” on Asia and emerging markets’ growth stocks.

While markets may be pricing in a rate hike at the Federal Reserve’s March meeting, many also expect rate cuts later this year. Easing financial conditions should benefit growth stocks, the strategists said.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Jihye Lee, Christine Wang

Nike reported sales in China fell 8% during the holiday quarter even as the country ended its zero-Covid policies.

The athletic apparel giant reported Greater China sales totaled $1.99 billion in the quarter ended Feb. 28. That’s lower than Wall Street expectations for $2.09 billion, according to StreetAccount consensus estimates.

Still, Nike CEO John Donahoe remained optimistic saying the company saw growth “really pick up” in the second month of the quarter as Covid controls eased.

“The fundamentals of this market are good, right? It is a very large market that’s growing. Sport and wellness is a key trend and tailwind there. There’s a desire for innovation and style. And the key to winning in this market is simply put: having great innovation and connecting with Chinese consumers in a locally relevant way,” Donahoe said.

Shares of Nike slipped 2.25% in the after-hours session.

— Christine Wang, Gabrielle Fonrouge

Other names leading the index also included automaker Toyota, investment manager Softbank and technology corporation Sony.

— Lim Hui Jie

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday that while authorities believe they’ve taken sufficient action to stem liquidity problems in the banking sector, the government is prepared to guarantee even more deposits if the banking crisis gets worse.

“The steps we took were not focused on aiding specific banks or classes of banks. Our intervention was necessary to protect the broader U.S. banking system,” she said in remarks prepared for a speech to the American Bankers Association. “And similar actions could be warranted if smaller institutions suffer deposit runs that pose the risk of contagion.”

— Tanaya Macheel, Jeff Cox

Shares of First Republic soared by more than 38% on Tuesday morning. The move marks a reversal for the bank’s losses yesterday, after Standard & Poor’s cut its credit rating again over the weekend. Investors are optimistic after Janet Yellen’s reassurances early Tuesday.

Shares of other U.S. regional banks continued to be in the green. Shares of PacWest Bancorp gained about 15.7%. Zions Bancorp. and KeyCorp added 5.3% and 5.8%, respectively. New York Community Bancorp. was up 1.8% and Fifth Third Bancorp rose 3.8%.

— Pia Singh

CEOs from big banks, including JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon and Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan, are meeting in Washington Tuesday for a two-day scheduled gathering, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

First Republic Bank, which has been under pressure due to the large percentage of uninsured deposits, will be discussed at the meeting, Reuters reported.

— Yun Li

As the Federal Reserve is looking to announce its latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday, Insight Investment believes that inflation will continue to remain high in 2023.

“The 2% inflation objective is unlikely to be realized in 2023 but there is some hope that we may see a more normal inflation environment by 2024,” Brendan Murphy, Head of Core Fixed Income, North America wrote in a Tuesday note.

“As the lagged effect of the Fed’s policy rate increases along with the more recent tightening of financial conditions associated with the banking sector concerns works their way through the economy, the effects are likely to be disinflationary. Those same conditions present many risks to the growth picture,” Murphy added.

Insight Investment expects the central bank will raise interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, but added that “the recent market volatility could be an opportunity for them to pause at this meeting.”

“The argument for a pause is strong as another 25bp increase could be seen as contributing to market volatility and financial instability,” said Murphy.

“However, not delivering on 25bps might cause some to question the Fed’s resolve in bringing inflation lower which could create a whole new set of problems. Pausing may lead to an easing of financial conditions that work against their inflation goals.”

— Hakyung Kim