China leads declines among Asia markets as investors await Fed rate decision

Argentina has sharply devalued its currency and cut subsidies for energy and transport as part of economic shock measures that new Economy Minister Luis Caputo said were aimed at fixing the country's worst crisis in decades.

The peso was weakened by about 56% to 800 pesos to the dollar, from 366.5 before the move took effect. The Argentinian blue dollar - referring to cash dollars bought and sold informally - traded at 1050 to the dollar.

Caputo said the plan was needed to cut the fiscal deficit and bring down triple-digit inflation.

Argentina's annual inflation rate stood at 143% in October. The country is also grappling with a fiscal deficit, as well as a $45 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund.

— Associated Press

Business sentiment in Japan improved more than expected among large manufacturers, according to the Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan survey.

The Tankan reading for big Japanese manufacturers climbed to +12 from +10, beating the +10 estimated by economists in a Reuters poll.

Meanwhile, reading for big non-manufacturers' rose to +30 from +27, improving for the seventh quarter in a row and also higher than the +27 expected by the Reuters poll.

A positive index reading indicates optimistic respondents outnumber pessimistic ones.

— Lim Hui Jie

Unemployment rate in South Korea spiked to its highest level since July, according to data released by the government.

The jobless rate in South Korea rose to 2.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis last month, higher than the 2.5% in October.

Data also showed the country's economy added fewer jobs in November at around 277,000, compared with prior month's 346,000 additions.

South Korea's unemployment rate had reached a record low of 2.4% in August.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Morgan Stanley has advised clients to get ahead of the next market cycle by buying shares of high-quality growth companies in Asia and emerging markets (EM).

"We believe the market is now in transition to a new cycle that would favor Growth over Value," the Wall Street bank's strategists, including Gilbert Wong, said in a note to clients on Dec. 11. "Our suggested strategy is to buy the dip on Quality Growth stocks in [Asia Pacific region excluding Japan, and EM]."

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about Morgan Stanley's stock picks here.

— Ganesh Rao

Consumer prices in India rose at the fastest pace in three months in November as food prices increased, according to government data released Tuesday.

Annual retail inflation in November rose to 5.55%, still below a Reuters poll forecast of 5.7%. The reading was higher than a 4.87% rise in October.

Food prices, which make up more than half of the consumer prices reading, were up 8.7% last month from 6.61% in October.

The inflation rate still remains above the Reserve Bank of India's target of 4% for the year.

The RBI held its main repo rate steady at 6.5% at its last monetary policy meeting of the year last Friday and said its expects the country to grow at a pace of 7% in 2023.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

The biotechnology sector has finally picked up steam after a tough 2022 — and one under-the-radar stock stands out to fund manager Hugh Dive.

Calling it a "very well run, large and very profitable company," Dive — who is the chief investment officer at the Australia-headquartered Atlas Asset Management — is not along in liking the stock.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

The consumer price index gained 0.1% in November from the prior month. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected CPI to be flat month over month. On a year-over-year basis, the print came in at 3.1%, in line with expectations.

Excluding energy and food, CPI rose 0.3% month over month and 4% year over year — also matching expectations.

— Fred Imbert

Respondents to the latest CNBC Fed Survey expect the central bank to begin cutting interest rates in the middle of next year and are more optimistic on the likelihood of a soft landing.

More than half of the 35 economists, strategists and analysts polled by CNBC expect June to be the first month of Fed cuts, while 69% expect another cut in July. The average forecast from respondents calls for roughly 85 basis points of interest rate cuts in 2024.

Meanwhile, soft landing expectations also climbed in the December survey compared to a month earlier. Respondents increased the probability of soft landing to 47%, a basis point increase from November, while trimming the odds of a recession in 2024 by 8 basis points to 41%.

— Brian Evans

The three major indexes all touched fresh 52-week intraday highs during Tuesday's trading session.

The Nasdaq Composite rose to 14,474.02, its highest intraday level since Apr. 5, 2022, when it hit 14,500.29.

The S&P 500 reached its highest intraday level since Mar. 29, 2022, at 4,630.49. At the last intraday high milestone, the S&P 500 hit 4,637.30.

The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average achieved a high of 36,531.97, its highest intraday level since Jan. 5, 2022, when it traded at 36,952.65.

— Hakyung Kim

U.S. crude oil prices on Tuesday dropped more than 3% as traders worries that the Federal Reserve does not yet have inflation under control.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for January lost $2.41, or 3.38%, to trade at $68.91 a barrel, while the Brent crude contract for February shed $2.33, or 3.06%, to trade at $73.70 a barrel.

Inflation in the U.S. rose 0.1% in November after being unchanged in October. Traders are worried that the Fed does not have inflation under control and will have to keep the foot on the accelerator when it comes to interest rates, said Phil Flynn, an analyst with the Price Futures Group.

Flynn said the confidence of the oil market has been shattered after a seven-week streak of losses.

Record oil production in the U.S. is colliding with a weakening economy in China, raising concerns that OPEC+ will not be able to stabilize crude prices with its new round of cuts set for the first quarter.

— Spencer Kimball