China Caixin PMI, Hong Kong PMI, Singapore retail sales

Separate private surveys showed the slowdown in Australia’s business activity eased, while Japan’s services activity continued to expand in January.

The Judo Bank Australia services PMI rose to 49.1 in January, up from 47.1 in December. “A stabilisation in demand, supported by a shallower fall in export business, led to services activity declining at only a marginal rate in January,” according to the survey.

A PMI reading of above 50 indicates expansion in the sector, while a reading below 50 signifies contraction.

The au Jibun Bank Japan services business activity index rose to 53.1 in January from 51.5 in December, remaining in expansionary territory.

The survey said the rate of growth was the highest since September as new business inflows rose, while international demand increased for the first time in five months.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Citi has updated its list of its top “high-conviction” stock picks from global markets including the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Those are the “high conviction, differentiated stock recommendations to generate alpha” that its analysts have selected.

“We identify catalysts that will trigger outperformance and chose liquid names in which investors can build positions,” Citi said in its Feb. 1 report.

Here are four of the names.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Ongoing political tensions, still-high inflation levels and uncertainty over when the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates have raised questions about which sectors — and stocks — will outperform looking ahead.

For Kevin Teng, CEO of Wrise Wealth Management Singapore, which serves ultra-high-net-worth individuals across Asia, the Middle East and Europe, three top stocks stand out as good plays right now.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

Meta shares popped more than 21% Friday, pulling the communication services sector up 4.5% to lead the S&P 500’s gains.

Consumer discretionary was the next biggest winner, rising 2.5%. Amazon and Etsy shares were the top advancers, rising nearly 8% and 5%, respectively.

Meanwhile, real estate fell 1.6%, making it the worst-performing sector of the day.

Week to date, consumer discretionary is the biggest advancer, jumping 3.9%.

— Hakyung Kim

Stocks closed higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 reaching a fresh record high.

The broad market index added 1.1% to close at 4,958.61, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 134.58 points, or 0.4%, to 38,654.42. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.74% to finish the session at 15,628.95.

— Brian Evans

The two-month gain in consumer sentiment (17.7 points) in December and January just reported by the University of Michigan was the most since the two months ended in March 1991 (20.9 points), which came at the end of the Gulf War, where coalition forces defeated Iraq and restored Kuwaiti independence.

Consumer sentiment came in at 79 in January, the highest since July 2021 when sentiment ended at 81.2. Inflation expectations for the coming year were 2.9% in the latest survey, the lowest since Dec. 2020’s reading of 2.5%.

The monthly Index of Consumer Sentiment is published in the Surveys of Consumers conducted by the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan.

— Scott Schnipper, Gina Francolla

The U.S. economy added 353,000 jobs in January, easily beating economist expectations. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a print of 185,000.

The report also included inflationary data in the form of greater-than-expected wage growth. Wages expanded by 4.5% year over year, more than a 4.1% forecast.

This comes after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled this week that a March rate cut was unlikely.

— Fred Imbert