Oil rises nearly 3% after Putin's speech; Asia markets lower ahead of the Fed’s rate hike

Oil futures rose 3% after Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, said there would be a partial military mobilization in the country.

Brent crude futures rose 3.07% to $93.40 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate futures added 3.13% to $86.57 per barrel.

— Abigail Ng

With markets expecting the U.S. Federal Reserve to hike interest rates by another 75 basis points this week, Bank of Singapore's head of investment strategy Eli Lee said that aside from investing in U.S. bonds and the dollar, there may be value in other areas such as Chinese equities.

"We think that the Chinese equity space continues to look very interesting, and it is a valuation game there right now," Lee told CNBC's "Capital Connection."

"We haven't reached the lows that we've seen in March earlier this year," he said. "The economic pain that we're seeing in China right now are pretty much self imposed. The zero-Covid policy is a straitjacket but we are seeing some signs and we are optimistic that post the [Chinese Communist] Party Congress, we could see the authorities start to reconsider that policy."

"So we're slightly optimistic on that front."

— Su-Lin Tan

Oil prices rose slightly after shedding in earlier trade on Wednesday ahead of an expected aggressive rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

Brent crude futures rose 0.23% to stand at $90.83 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate also gained 0.17% to $84.10 per barrel.

"The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects oil output in the seven major U.S. oil and gas basins to lift modestly in September," Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Vivek Dhar wrote in a note.

— Lee Ying Shan

FedEx's bleak preliminary earnings and revised outlook sent stocks tumbling last week, but is it as bad as it looks?

CNBC Pro asked investment experts who weighed in on what the announcement means for the global economy and for investors.

Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Zavier Ong

European businesses in China increasingly face an environment in which "ideology trumps the economy," the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in its annual position paper released Wednesday.

Joerg Wuttke, president of the business group, said this year's Covid controls have turned China into a "closed" and "distinctively different" country that might prompt companies to leave.

Earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the country has "continued to respond to Covid-19 and promote economic and social development in a well-coordinated way," according to a paraphrase of his remarks shared by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

— Evelyn Cheng

Hong Kong-listed shares of Tencent Music Entertainment ticked higher in early trade after its debut in the city.

It was last at 18.12 Hong Kong dollars ($2.31), up from its issue price of 17.98 Hong Kong dollars.

The company's New York-listed shares closed 0.44% lower at $4.56 on Tuesday.

Tencent Music chose to list by way of introduction, a shorter way to trade on a new exchange without raising more funds.

The company joins the number of U.S.-listed Chinese companies that have debuted in Hong Kong as delisting risks rise due to tensions between Washington and Beijing.

— Abigail Ng

The Asian Development Bank now sees growth of 4.3% in 2022 and 4.9% in 2023 for emerging Asian economies, according to the latest updates in its report.

The Manila-based lender slashed its forecasts for China to 3.3% in 2022 from its previous prediction of 4% revised in July, dragging down the wider region's growth prospects.

Taiwan and South Korea, in particular, are likely to see a decline in export demand, Asian Development Bank Chief Albert Park told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia."

Read the full story here.

—Jihye Lee

As interest in battery stocks picks up after a tough year so far, CNBC Pro analyzed a number of stocks in the sector that analysts say have serious potential.

CNBC Pro screened the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF on FactSet for stocks that could outperform. One stock that made the list has jumped over 40% this year so far, and analysts say it has further upside of more than 70%.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Even though the Federal Reserve is set to deliver its third consecutive 0.75 percentage point rate hike this week - tripling the pace of tightening - they should be careful not to throw the economy into a recession, said Ron Temple, head of U.S. Equity at Lazard Asset Management.

"Inflation is unacceptably high, and investors, politicians, and consumers are anxious, but patience is a virtue," said Temple. "Monetary policy works with long and variable lags."

He added that key drivers of inflation are already falling.

"The Fed should avoid the temptation to overreact to recent data and keep their eyes on the goal of achieving the softest landing possible," he said.

—Carmen Reinicke