Asia-Pacific Stocks Hover Near Highs; Kospi Hits Record Closing High; Samsung to Face Longest-Ever Strike.
Tradingkey - Markets continue to monitor details of the meeting between the U.S. and Chinese heads of state, with major Asia-Pacific equity markets hovering at high levels. U.S. inflation rose to 3.8% in April, a nearly three-year high, weighing on U.S. chip stocks. Samsung may face the longest strike in its history, which pressured Japanese and South Korean stocks in early trading before they fluctuated upward to close higher. U.S. President Trump is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday evening. According to sources close to the matter, the summit will discuss Iran, artificial intelligence, nuclear weapons, and rare earths. The business delegation for this visit spans technology, finance, aviation, and agriculture, including Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, and executives from semiconductor firms such as Qualcomm (QCOM) and Micron (MU). The aviation sector includes Boeing (BA) CEO Kelly Ortberg, while the financial sector includes Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Blackstone Group (