Asia caught Friday's Wall Street risk-on wave and ran with it, setting up a US open that's leaning higher into a week that lives or dies on CPI.
Nikkei closed up 2.08% at 66,970, powered by a weaker yen after USD/JPY pushed back above 159 once the recent joint Tokyo-Washington intervention failed to hold the line. Hang Seng added 1.05% to 25,937, CSI 300 gained 0.30% and Shanghai firmed 0.67%, helped by China's July CPI cooling to 0.5% year-on-year, the softest in six months. Kospi rose 0.65%, but the real story was Kosdaq ripping 7% on a fresh AI/chip bid.
That appetite carries into New York: futures are pointing modestly higher after Friday's record S&P close near 7,758, capping a 3.6% weekly rally, the best since April, on a July payrolls miss (-23,000 vs +80,000 expected) that pushed the Fed toward the sidelines and 10-year yields down to 4.65%. Premarket cracks in Zoetis, ResMed and Seagate are a reminder the tape isn't uniformly clean beneath the index-level euphoria, and oil staying bid on Strait of Hormuz risk keeps a tail hedge alive.
The risk: Tuesday's CPI and Wednesday's PPI/retail sales are the swing factor. A hot core print reopens the higher-for-longer debate, hits the weak-yen/weak-dollar carry trade driving Nikkei and Asia tech, and could unwind the soft-landing rally fast if Fed cut odds get repriced lower.