Nvidia, Nasdaq record, Australia CPI

Shares of Singtel were temporarily halted early Wednesday, before trading resumed.

The Singapore telco released a statement addressing a report by Reuters that claimed Singtel was teaming up with investment firm KKR to buy a minority stake in one of Asia’s largest data center providers.

In a filing to the Singapore Exchange, Singtel said it “regularly explores and reviews business opportunities, projects and proposals relating to its business and enters into discussions with various parties from time to time.”

Singtel pointed out that “there is no certainty that any transaction will arise from these discussions or that any definitive or binding agreement will be entered into pursuant to these discussions.”

The Reuters article, citing sources, said the Singtel-KKR consortium has emerged as the frontrunner to buy a 20% minority stake worth $1 billion in STT Telemedia Global Data Centres.

One source said the consortium is competing with New York-headquartered alternative investment firm Stonepeak for the stake, and that a deal could be sealed or announced in early June, the first source added.

— Lim Hui Jie

The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond hit its highest levels in about 13 years, touching a high of 1.097%.

The last time the 10-year yield hit this level was back in 2011, before the Bank of Japan started its yield curve control policy in 2016.

Yields of 10-year JGBs have been on the uptrend ever since the BOJ dismantled its YCC policy in March, which had capped the upper limit of the bond yield at “around 1%.”

— Lim Hui Jie

Investor darling Nvidia is dominating headlines once again after its earnings last week surpassed expectations on the back of the artificial intelligence boom.

Morgan Stanley notes that the reaction to Nvidia’s first quarter results is “very telling on how much buying power still exists in the market.”

“We are far from topping out on AI. This should be enough to sustain investor confidence in AI supply chain stocks in Asia,” the investment bank’s analysts wrote in a May 22 research note.

They named a number of overweight-rated stocks to play their favorite AI themes, including four with over 50% upside potential.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

For many investors, the million-dollar question is how far Nvidia can go or whether it can sustain its dramatic growth.

Nick Griffin, chief investment officer at Munro Partners, has invested in Nvidia since 2019 – but even he is taken aback by the stock’s astronomical run so far.

“I have never seen anything like this in terms of the dramatic earnings acceleration it’s displaying … it’s never happened before to a company of this size, and it’s unprecedented,” he said Tuesday.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

It may be time to take a more neutral stance now that stocks have reached record highs, according to RBC Capital Markets. In fact, the Wall Street firm worries the bias for equities may be to the downside if the currently held view on markets and the economy proves overly optimistic.

“Our S&P 500 valuation model continues to suggest that the broader US equity market is fairly valued, with some modest downside risk if current inflation, interest rate, and Fed assumptions end up being too rosy,” Lori Calvasina wrote Tuesday.

“For a material move higher in the market by year end to be justified on the math, we think investors will need to start focusing on the outlook for 2025, where visibility still seems a bit limited,” Calvasina added.

— Sarah Min

Although goods inflation has come down in recent times, Torsten Slok believes investors need to be more wary of resilient supercore inflation.

The chief economist of Apollo Global Management noted that supercore inflation, which excludes food, energy and housing prices, has started to reaccelerate due to tailwinds in the service sector. This uptick in inflation, combined with a strong housing outlook, could provide a damper for investors expecting the Federal Reserve to cut rates this year.

“Housing is maybe a little bit more challenging to control for the Fed, but what they can control is broader consumption. That is still quite strong, and that is the challenge for the Fed as we look ahead,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Tuesday.

While Slok does not outright expect rate hikes this year, he agreed with Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari’s assessment that investors could not necessarily rule them out.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari told CNBC on Tuesday he is still not ready to cut interest rates.

“Many more months of positive inflation data, I think, to give me confidence that it’s appropriate to dial back,” he said. He also noted the central bank could raise rates if inflation does not continue to ease. “I don’t think we should rule anything out at this point.”

— Fred Imbert