Asia markets live updates: Singapore CPI, Malaysia CPI

The current weakness in the Japanese yen does not reflect its fundamentals, according to Japan’s top currency diplomat, Masato Kanda, Reuters reported.

The yen has weakened steadily over the past two weeks, even as the Bank of Japan moved to raise interest rates and abolished its yield curve control policy. The yen has crossed the psychological level of 150 against the greenback, trading at 151.28 currently.

Kanda told reporters that yen weakness, based on speculative moves, has a negative effect on the economy, according to the Reuters report.

However, Kanda said he doesn’t have a specific exchange level in mind.

Markets are red-hot, and investors might be wondering what they can buy right now.

On top of that, some are calling for investors to move out of cash if rates do fall.

If you had a spare $1 million to invest right now, what should you buy?

CNBC Pro asked fund managers and wealth advisors how they would allocate their portfolios with that money. Recommendations range from tech to AI’s power needs — and a stock portfolio for the “moderately aggressive” investor.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Markets are still red-hot even after a very good 2023, when the S&P 500 soared around 24%.

The S&P 500 is up around 10% year-to-date, and in fact hit new record highs in March.

Many stocks have soared and even beaten the broader market, but is there still room for some companies to run?

Using FactSet, CNBC Pro screened the S&P 500 and the Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF for stocks that are beating the market so far this year — and that analysts love.

Just five stocks turned up from the S&P 500 screen.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Markets cheered this week’s Federal Reserve decision to leave interested unchanged, and maintain expectations for three cuts this year despite a recent spate of hot inflation reports.

But the market may be getting ahead of itself, according to Envestnet’s Dana D’Auria.

“The market is getting a little overexcited,” said the co-chief investment officer. “I don’t interpret the comments to mean that we necessarily get that rate cut in June.”

Given the current data, D’Auria believes there’s a “pretty decent chance” that the central bank cuts fewer than three times this year, adding that she sees greater risks in cutting too soon.

“Powell is trying to thread the needle between not letting the market expect too much but also not disappointing the market,” she said. “Unless the data support a cut, I don’t necessarily think we will get one.”

— Samantha Subin

Wells Fargo expects the stock market to keep moving higher.

“The Fed’s reiteration of monetary easing plans despite expectations of a hotter macro backdrop predictably ushered in another wave of ‘risk-on’ trading,” analyst Christopher Harvey wrote in a note Friday. “We think this upward bias to equity prices will persist in the near term.”

Small camps and midcaps “thrived” after the Federal Reserve stuck with its projections of three rate cuts this year, he said. However, momentum stocks were the best performer week to date, added Harvey, who said he remains “pro-Momentum.”

The S&P 500 added 2.3% week to date, as of Thursday’s close, and is up nearly 10% year to date.

— Michelle Fox