Red meat on display at a grocery store in Brooklyn, New York, May 12, 2026.
Spencer Pratt | Getty Images
Hello, my name is Hui Jie from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
For weeks, Iran has dominated the headlines in your inbox. Today, another familiar ghost is back. That’s US inflation.
Consumer price data for April was stronger than expected, raising the possibility of a Fed rate hike and slowing Wall Street’s record growth.
Meanwhile, in Asia, investors are also keeping an eye on signals from the Trump-Xi summit as the US president arrives in Beijing this evening.
Topics include arms sales to Taiwan, rare earth exports, and the fate of imprisoned Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai.
What you need to know today
After a few years of relative calm following the coronavirus pandemic, a familiar boogeyman has reared its head in the stock market. That’s US inflation statistics.
U.S. consumer prices in April exceeded expectations at 3.8%, marking the highest rate of increase since May 2023.
Core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 2.8%, the highest level since January 2025, but still above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
The data reinforced expectations that the Fed’s interest rate hikes could weigh on markets and curb economic growth.
Traders have raised the probability that the Fed will raise rates by the end of the year to about 30%, with a 4.5% chance of a 50 basis point hike, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tracker.
In Washington, a federal appeals court granted the Trump administration a temporary reprieve, allowing 10% tariffs to remain in place around the world for another 10 days as the legal battle continues.
The development brought Wall Street’s record rally to a screeching halt, with tech stocks weighing on the index.
of S&P500 The stock closed 0.16% lower. Nasdaq Composite It fell by 0.71%. however, Dow Jones Industrial Average It rose 0.11% in Tuesday trading.
In other company news, E-bay rejected game stop“The unsolicited bid is neither credible nor attractive,” he said of the company’s $56 billion takeover bid.
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen last week announced a bold takeover offer for eBay in a cash-and-stock deal worth $125 a share, even though GameStop is about one-fifth the size of the online market.
And finally…
President Trump raises arms sales to Taiwan and jailing Hong Kong activist Li ahead of meeting with Xi
President Donald Trump said Monday that U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and the imprisonment of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai will be on the agenda at a Beijing summit later this week.
Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan have become a flashpoint between the two countries, prompting a sharp reaction from Beijing, which accused the United States of violating the “one China principle” and warned that attempts to “contain China” through Taipei would fail.
President Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday to discuss a wide range of topics, including the Iran war, trade, rare earth export controls, Taiwan and other key topics.
— Anique Bao
