• Asian equities are poised to trade with little momentum, after US stocks last week retreated from near all-time highs in a blip for a market notching its longest weekly advance since 2004.
• Australian benchmarks opened flat on the first trading day of the new year, while Japan — hit by a powerful earthquake on New Year’s Day that killed at least four people and triggered a widespread tsunami warning — is closed for a national holiday. Chinese shares were set to edge higher.
• Signs of exhaustion emerged after an over $8 trillion surge in the S&P 500 last year, with the gauge still notching its ninth straight week of gains. Traders have looked past Federal Reserve uncertainty, recession angst and geopolitical risks. And many who came into 2023 dreading all that have ended up scrambling to chase the rally.