Nikkei leads losses in Asia and falls over 2% as Bank of Japan holds rates, but adjusts YCC stance

Yields for 10-year Japanese government bonds stood at 0.539% after the Bank of Japan announced an adjustment in its stance for its yield curve control policy.

This is the first time 10-year JGB yields have hit this level since September 2014.

The BOJ said it will still allow yields to fluctuate in the range of around plus and minus 0.5%, but it will “conduct yield curve control with greater flexibility, regarding the upper and lower bounds the range as references, not as rigid limits, in its market operations.”

Separately, Japan’s central bank held its benchmark policy rate at -0.1%.

— Lim Hui Jie

The consumer price index in Japan’s capital city of Tokyo rose 3.2% year on year in July, slightly higher than the 3.1% recorded in the previous month.

This is the 14th straight month that the inflation rate in the capital came in above the Bank of Japan’s 2% target.

Core inflation in Tokyo – which strips out prices of fresh food – came in at 3%, slightly higher than the 2.9% expected by economies polled by Reuters, but lower than June’s figure of 3.2%.

— Lim Hui Jie

The Japanese yen has strengthened 0.38% against the greenback to trade at 138.95 after a report that the Bank of Japan will discuss tweaking its yield curve control policy.

Nikkei has learnt that the BOJ will let long-term interest rates rise beyond its cap of 0.5% “by a certain degree.”

Under its yield curve control policy, the central bank targets short-term interest rates at -0.1% and the 10-year government bond yield at 0.5% above or below zero,

“The proposed change would keep the rate ceiling, but allow for moderate rises beyond that level,” Nikkei added.

— Lim Hui Jie

Goldman Sachs has named a number of Chinese stocks to buy after authorities announced a number of major fiscal stimulus measures this week.

While structural growth concerns remain, the meeting “reaffirms our view that the policy put has been activated, and the window for a tactical bounce for Chinese stocks is now open,” Goldman analysts said in a July 26 research note.

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— Lucy Handley

Morgan Stanley has named three stocks to buy and three to sell as it revealed its cautious stance on the global office spaces sector.

The Wall Street bank has forecast an oversupply of office space that could last more than a decade while facing headwinds from the rise in working from home, increasing capitalization rates, and expensive refinancing challenges.

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— Ganesh Rao

Much of the market gains this year has been dominated by tech stocks.

Investors are wondering if the U.S. Federal Reserve is done raising rates after its 25 basis-point hike on Wednesday. Still, uncertainty looms ahead for the tech sector.

For those looking outside of tech, Morningstar data shows that non-tech or growth funds have also been among the top performing for the last five years.

Here’s the list, and their top holdings.

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— Weizhen Tan

There are 42 names in the S&P 500 reaching fresh highs Thursday, many on the back of their recent quarterly reports.

Here are some of those names.

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

— Sarah Min, Chris Hayes

Communication services was the leading sector in the S&P 500, up by more than 2.9% as of midday trading.

The sector was boosted by shares of Meta and Comcast, which were both higher following their most recent earnings beats.

The next highest sector was consumer discretionary, followed by information technology. Meanwhile, industrials and utilities were the two biggest laggards in the index.

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

— Sarah Min

June pending home sales rose for the first time in three months. The data showed a rise of 0.3% last month, greater than the estimate of a 0.5% decline from analysts polled by Dow Jones. Pending home sales dropped 2.7% in the prior month.

— Sarah Min

The U.S. economy grew by 2.4% in the second quarter, beating expectations. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected the economy grew by 2% in the second quarter. This is the latest piece of data pointing toward a resilient economy, not one going into a recession.

— Fred Imbert, Jeff Cox