On July 9th, the Nikkei 225 index closed up 897.35 points, a 2% increase, at 41,678.05 points, setting a new historical record once again. Investors in other markets are awaiting the speech of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to find the Fed's policy path following the cooling of the U.S. labor market.

Led by the Japanese stock market, most of the Asia-Pacific stocks rose today: Taiwan's stock market set a new historical high but later suffered profit-taking, ending with a 0.1% decline; China's blue-chip index rose by 1.1%; the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong rose by 0.5%. After yesterday's pullback, the Asia-Pacific stock index compiled by Morgan Stanley (excluding Japan) rose by 0.4% today, just slightly below the two-year high set the day before.

In other markets, the Euro Stoxx 50 index futures fell by 0.2%; the FTSE index rose by 0.1%. The S&P 500 index futures rose by 0.2%, and the Nasdaq index futures rose by 0.3%. On Monday, U.S. stocks closed higher again, with the S&P 500 index setting a record high for the 35th time this year, led by the technology and materials sectors with gains of 0.72% and 0.28% respectively.

In the next two days, Powell will attend the U.S. Congress hearing. Analysts say that at this hearing, Powell will face different voices from Congress members regarding the Fed's policy.

On one hand, some members are worried about the Fed's interest rate hike strategy in fighting inflation, as they believe high interest rates add extra burden to consumers and strongly expect the Fed to cut interest rates. On the other hand, some members oppose the Fed's recent proposal to raise bank capital requirements, fearing that this move will further tighten the credit environment.

Last Friday, data released by the U.S. Department of Labor showed that the number of new non-agricultural employment in the United States in June was 206,000, a significant drop from the previous 272,000; the unemployment rate rose to 4.1%, higher than the market's expected 4.0%.

The United States has recently encountered a series of cold key data, and investors have greatly increased the chances of a rate cut in September to about 80%. For the rest of this year, the market has fully priced in a 50 basis point easing policy, equivalent to two rate cuts, each by 25 basis points.

AMP's Chief Economist in Sydney, Shane Oliver, said, "I believe that, on the one hand, the market will remain optimistic about Powell's cautious dovish remarks, and on the other hand, the market will also be optimistic about the U.S. CPI data to be released later this week. The suppression of inflation in the United States will continue."

Oliver also said that the market's expectations are reasonable. Looking at the recent U.S. data, most of them are softening. Last Friday's non-farm data was cold, the employment rate rose, and most leading indicators of the labor market are cooling down.

This Thursday, the United States will release the June CPI data, and economists expect that the overall U.S. CPI in June will slow down from 3.3% in May to 3.1%, and the core inflation rate will remain stable at 3.4%.

In the foreign exchange market, the euro held at $1.0825 after a significant fluctuation on Monday, as investors are accepting the fact that the French Parliament is still undecided, indicating a possible political deadlock; the U.S. dollar index is stable near the four-week low of 105.01, providing a breather for the battered yen and renminbi.

The U.S. dollar against the yen remained at the level of 160.95, and last week the yen plunged to a 38-year low of 161.96; the offshore renminbi hovered at 1 U.S. dollar to 7.2897 renminbi, and the renminbi began to recover briefly, having risen for four consecutive trading days, leaving a 7.5-month low.