Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day: Asia

Good morning. The S&P 500 tops 5,600 for the first time. Google parent Alphabet shelves efforts to acquire HubSpot. China tightens rules on short selling. Here’s what’s moving markets. — Isabelle Lee

The S&P 500 topped 5,600 for the first time. A renewed bid for megacaps drove the benchmark to its longest rally since November. The index climbed 1% — up for a seventh straight day — notching its 37th record this year. Treasuries remained fairly stable after a strong $39 billion sale of 10-year bonds. As Wall Street geared up for the consumer-price index Thursday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he doesn’t need inflation below 2% before cutting rates. He added the labor market has cooled “pretty significantly.” Swaps are pricing in two rate cuts in 2024 and higher chances the first comes in September. The so-called core CPI, which excludes food and energy costs, is expected to have risen 0.2% for a second month in June. That would mark the smallest back-to-back gains since August — a pace considered more palatable for Fed officials.