Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving and why.
Japan's Nikkei two twenty five is sitting at a record closing high after four straight sessions of gains, adding more than fifty one hundred points — roughly eight point one percent — in that stretch alone. The index is just above sixty nine thousand four hundred, but analysts are flagging the possibility that momentum could stall heading into Wednesday's session, as buyers at these levels may need fresh catalysts to push further.
Turning to commodities, soybeans staged a solid reversal on Tuesday, shaking off early weakness to close seven and a half to nearly twelve cents higher on the session. The driver was familiar but meaningful — rumors of Chinese inquiries into American supply sparked buying interest in the day session and held through the close, with the national average cash bean price up nearly eleven cents on the day.
And Intel is making a move that could redefine its standing in the chip manufacturing race. The company's new manufacturing process has reached a stage that signals confidence in its ability to court external customers — a critical threshold for a foundry business that has been burning cash. Analysts say this milestone could mark a genuine inflection point in Intel's long-running turnaround effort.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
