Travellers queue up at Hong Kong's Lok Ma ChauMa Chau border checkpoint on the first day that China reopens the border amid the COVID 19 epidemic in Hong Kong.
Travelers are streaming into China by air, land and sea after three years. Long lines snaked through checkpoints at the Hong Kong border. Ferries to Macau swelled with passengers.
The official Chinese Communist Party newspaper, the People's Daily, wrote on Sunday.
Today, the virus is weak, and we are stronger. MSCI's Asia ex-Japan index jumped 2% to a six month high. The yuan punched its 200 day moving average to its highest since August, and the dollar was in a retreat wherever Chinese tourists are expected to be expected.
Another farewell came from Jack Ma, who is giving up control of the fintech giant Ant Group, setting off gains in a number of Ma related companies, principally Alibaba, as investors reckon it draws a line under regulators' attention.
Sentiment was given a boost last week from a benign blend of solid U.S. payroll gains and slower wage growth, along with a sharp fall in service sector activity. The twin hopes of a gentler Fed and reviving China are holding the recession fears at bay.
Fed fund futures now have a 25% chance of a half-point hike in February, down from around 50% a month ago, and focus is now on Tuesday and U.S. consumer price data on Thursday.
Earnings season kicks off this week with the major U.S. banks. Before that, traders are looking at German industrial output data and European unemployment figures on Monday and appearances by Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic later in the day.
In emerging markets, the open of trade is the focus of the Brazilian real after hundreds of supporters of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro were arrested during an invasion of the country's Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court.
Key developments that could influence markets on Monday: