Cautious Open for APAC Markets; Election Day in South Korea
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Asian shares were off to a tepid start at the open Tuesday after a rebound in big tech drove US stocks higher. Bonds fell as the dollar hit its lowest since 2023. Wall Street kept a close eye on the latest twists in the trade war, with the US extending the exclusion of Section 301 tariffs on some Chinese goods until Aug. 31, according to a notice issued by the US Customs and Border Protection. Trump and Xi Jinping will "likely" speak this week, according to the White House. We talk markets with Adam Coons, Chief Investment Officer at Winthrop Capital Management.

Plus - South Koreans head to the polls Tuesday to elect a new president to lead the nation after an attempt to impose martial law at the end of last year triggered its worst constitutional crisis in decades. Opposition Democratic Party nominee Lee Jae-myung was the frontrunner ahead of conservative ruling People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo in final polls conducted last week. A third contender, Lee Jun-seok, a former PPP leader now running for the Reform Party, was splitting the conservative vote. The winner will face the challenges of trying to unite a deeply fractured country and restore growth to a shrinking economy that is among the most vulnerable in the world to US President Donald Trump's trade tariffs. For more, we hear from M. Jae Moon, Professor of Public Policy and Management at Yonsei University. He speaks with Bloomberg's Shery Ahn in Seoul.

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