China, Hong Kong stocks jump as Beijing plans to boost liquidity in troubled property sector

Shares of K-Pop agency YG Entertainment bucked the larger downtrend on South Korea's Kosdaq after CEO Yang Hyun Suk announced a new album for the agency's rookie girl group Babymonster.

YG shares gained as much as 3.87%, beating the Kosdaq's 1.75% fall in contrast to its counterparts in the industry.

SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment lost as much as 3.63% and 3.91% respectively, before paring losses. Hybe, which is Kospi-listed and home to global boy group BTS, tumbled as much as 5.18%.

Babymonster is currently the only girl group managed fully by YG, following news last year that global sensation Blackpink will not renew individual contracts with the agency and instead only be under YG for group activities.

— Lim Hui Jie

Shares of electric vehicle makers and Tesla suppliers in Asia tumbled after Tesla missed fourth-quarter revenue and profit estimates on Thursday.

EV makers Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto were among the largest losers on the Hang Seng index, with Nio plunging over 7%. Shares of Xpeng and Li Auto lost 6.05% and 4.47% in early trading.

Separately, Tesla suppliers also fell after the automaker's results, with South Korean display manufacturer LG Display slipping over 4%. LG Display is known to supply the car displays for Tesla's Model 3.

Companies along Tesla's battery supply chain registered slightly smaller losses, with LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and Panasonic Holdings all down about 2%.

— Lim Hui Jie

South Korea's economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the last quarter of 2023, according to an advance estimate from the Bank of Korea.

Gross domestic product grew 2.2% in the fourth quarter compared with a year ago, more than a Reuters poll estimate of 2.1%.

During the year, data showed South Korea's GDP rose 1.4%.

Data showed exports grew 2.6% in the fourth quarter from the previous three-month period, as shipments of semiconductors increased.

The main Kospi index has lost about 7% since the beginning of the year.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

The health-care sector may have done poorly in the last couple of years, but analysts are bullish on it right now, citing biotech as an area to watch.

"Just two weeks into 2024, the healthcare sector has shrugged off the title of being a notable laggard in 2023," Citi said in a recent note.

To look for biotech stocks that did well last year and that analysts are still positive on, CNBC Pro screened the iShares Biotechnology ETF and the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF.

Subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Europe is set for a "weak stagnation" that will dampen the market, but several sectors and stocks stand out to UBS as good plays this year as growth stabilizes and inflation slows.

The Swiss investment bank expects Europe's growth to stabilize at 0.6% this year, as global growth weakens to 2.6%. This is a conservative estimate compared to the 1.2% growth rate penciled by the International Monetary Fund.

"Our macro outlook for Europe is for a weak stagnation that takes European equities modestly lower but delivers another year of actionable divergences between sectors and stocks," UBS' analysts wrote as they named sectors - and over 10 stocks - they like.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

Berkshire Hathaway shares rose to all-time highs during Wednesday's trading. Class A shares of the Omaha-based conglomerate gained more than 1% to hit an intraday record high of $572,325.80 apiece. Meanwhile, Class B shares climbed a similar 1% to a peak of $377.59, the highest level since the shares were created back in 1996.

Warren Buffett's juggernaut has rallied more than 5% this month, outperforming the S&P 500.

— Yun Li

U.S. crude oil prices rose more than 1% on Wednesday after domestic production took a substantial hit from winter storms earlier this month.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for March rose 97 cents, or 1.3%, to trade at $75.34 a barrel. The Brent contract for March was up 80 cents, or 1.01%, to trade at $80.35.

Prices rose after crude production in the U.S. fell by an estimated 1 million barrels per day during the week ending Jan. 19, according to the Energy Information Agency. U.S. commercial crude inventories also fell by 9.2 million barrels during the same period.

Surging U.S. crude production has weighed on prices for months as traders worry supply is outstripping demand as the economy slows in China.

Beijing also provided a more bullish signal Wednesday when the central bank announced that it would reduce liquidity requirements for financial institutions to help boost economic growth.

— Spencer Kimball

A rally among technology names aided the S&P 500 as the broad index climbed to new highs.

Communication services and information technology were among the best performing sectors of the 11 that comprise the index, with gains of more than 1% each. As a whole, the S&P 500 increased about 0.3%, on track for yet another record close.

Energy also rose more than 1%, while financials advanced 0.6%.

Those against outweighed losses seen in other sectors. Most notably, the real estate, materials and utilities sectors each slipped more than 1%.

— Alex Harring

The Dow underperformed on Wednesday, hurt by a slide in Verizon stock.

The blue-chip average traded slightly below flat, while the broad S&P 500 gained 0.3%. At session highs, the Dow climbed more than 150 points, 0.4%.

Part of that underperformance came from Verizon, which slipped more than 2%. 3M was the next worst performer, shedding 1.4%. Both companies reported earnings on Tuesday.

— Alex Harring