China, Australia stocks end higher for the first time in three days

This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Australia and China stocks closed higher Tuesday for the first time in three days, while the New Zealand dollar weakened following an inflation reading, the first since the elections over the weekend.

The minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia detailed the central bank's rationale for holding its benchmark lending rates at 4.1% during its October monetary policy meeting, the fourth straight month that it has kept rates unchanged.

New Zealand's inflation rate hit a two-year low, coming in at 5.6% in the third quarter and down from 6% in the previous quarter.

China is set to report third-quarter gross domestic product on Wednesday along with other economic data points. Economists expect third-quarter GDP growth of 4.4%, according to a Reuters poll.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.42% higher at 7,056.10, snapping a three day losing streak, while the kiwi dollar weakened 0.39%.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rebounded and gained 1.2%, closing at 32,040.29 and leading gains in Asia. The Topix meanwhile advanced 0.82% to end at 2,292.08.

South Korea's markets also reversed losses from Monday, with the Kospi adding 0.98% to close at 2,460.17 and the Kosdaq rising 1.21% to 820.38.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.79% in the final hour of trading, while mainland Chinese markets ended the session 0.35% at 3,639.40.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes gained, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher by 0.93% and marking its best day since September. The S&P 500 climbed 1.06%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.2%.

— CNBC's Samantha Subin and Alex Harring contributed to this report.

Baidu announces latest version of Ernie AI model, says it's on par with OpenAI's GPT-4

Chinese tech giant Baidu on Tuesday announced a "significantly improved" version of its generative artificial intelligence model, Ernie 4.0, during an event in Beijing.

The firm also claimed Ernie 4.0's capabilities are on par with those of ChatGPT maker OpenAI's GPT-4 model.

Baidu first released Ernie on March 16 to a limited pool of users, and officially opened up access to the public on Aug. 30.

During the event, CEO Robin Li demonstrated using the AI model to write a martial arts novel in real-time. He also showed Ernie 4.0 creating advertising content.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Baidu dropped 1.57%.

– Sheila Chiang

Singapore exports fall in September, mark 12th straight decline

Singapore's exports fell for the 12th straight month in September, data from the Singapore government showed.

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports declined 13.2% last month, following the 22.5% contraction in August, as both electronics and non-electronics exports declined.

The drop was mainly due to lower exports to Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia, but NODX to China, Hong Kong and the United States rose.

The Singapore dollar weakened slightly against the U.S. dollar, dipping 0.12% to $1.3687, while the Straits Times Index edged 0.19% higher.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Country Garden draws closer to debt deadline, as default risk looms

Country Garden's entire offshore debt could fall into default if the Chinese property developer fails to make a $15 million coupon payment on Tuesday, when its 30-day grace period ends.

Once China's largest real estate developer, Country Garden narrowly avoided default in early September after it managed to pay $22.5 million in bond coupon payments. Its creditors voted to extend repayments on six onshore bonds by three years.

Shares of Country Garden rose 1.37% in the first hour of trading, tracking a 0.35% rise in the broader Hang Seng Index.

Read full story here.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

New Zealand consumer inflation hits two-year low

New Zealand's consumer inflation hit a two-year low in the third quarter.

Consumer prices rose 5.6% from a year ago, slower than the 6% increase in the second quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand data published Tuesday. The figure was still largely above the central bank's target range of 1% to 3% as prices of everything from food to housing rose.

The kiwi dollar weakened 0.44% to $0.5903 as the data supported views that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand may not hike interest rates in its November meeting. Stock markets were a touch higher, with the S&P/NZX 50 Index up 0.07%.

The country elected former businessman Christopher Luxon as its next prime minister over the weekend.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

CNBC Pro: Wall Street says small-cap stocks are a good bet in a choppy market. Here are the top names

Small-cap stocks were on investors' radar last week.

The Russell 2000 index turned in five straight days of gains for the first time since mid-July, according to CNBC analysis.

And so investors may want to consider that particular asset class, especially amid rising volatility, according to some fund managers and analysts.

Here's how to invest, with analyst favorites to consider.

Subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

The 10-year Treasury could pull back below 4% by the middle of 2024, UBS' Mark Haefele says

UBS chief investment officer Mark Haefele says the yield on the 10-year Treasury could pull back below 4% by the middle of next year, while the S&P 500 ticks up to 4,500.

"This is a great time for people to get their portfolios more in balance because we see positive returns across cash, bands and equities. When we look out towards the middle of next year, we can see the S&P 500 probably [at] about 4500 and we can see the 10-year at about 3.5%," Haefele told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Monday. "If we have a hard landing...you can get lower than that."

Haefele added that so-called bond vigilantes aren't overly concerned with the prospect of a U.S. default, which underpins his thesis for a dip in the benchmark 10-year Treasury.

— Brian Evans

Fed's Harker says rate hikes have hit housing affordability

Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker on Monday acknowledged that the central bank's interest rate hikes have been a significant factor in the home price surge.

In a speech to the Mortgage Bankers Association, Harker noted that he has received many comments about housing affordability., "And I am also fully aware of the way the actions we on the [Federal Open Market Committee] have taken over the past 18 months in our efforts to tame inflation and get it back down to our 2% annual target have, in their own way, contributed to the current mortgage climate," he said.

The central bank official repeated his belief that the Fed doesn't need to raise rates again this cycle while also affirming his commitment to fighting inflation.

The National Association of Realtors' housing affordability index, a new data point started in 2022, recently reached the lowest level in its short history. Harker said one refrain he has heard continuously is, "There are no first-time home buyers."

—Jeff Cox

5 healthcare stocks hit new 52-week lows

Shares of five pharmaceutical stocks in the S&P 500 hit lows not seen in at least a year on Monday.

Moderna lost more than 8% at its lowest level of the day, trading at a price not seen since November 2020. Similarly, Baxter retreated to its lowest level since August 2012, Illumina traded at lows not seen since December 2016 and Ball shed 2% to trade at lows not seen since December 2018. Kenvue also traded at its lowest level ever since its spinoff from Johnson & Johnson in May 2023.

Shares of healthcare firms like Pfizer have recently come under pressure as demand for Covid treatments and vaccines have waned.

— Lisa Kailai Han, Gina Francolla

All 11 sectors in S&P 500 advance

All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 traded higher on Monday in a broad rally that helped push the index up more than 1%.

Consumer discretionary was the best performing sector with a gain of more than 1.5%. V.F. and Etsy led the sector higher, both rallying more than 4%. CarMax was the only stock in the sector on track for losses, shedding 0.1%.

Communication services and materials were the next best performers of the 11 sectors, with each adding around 1.4%.

Energy saw the most restricted gains, rising just 0.7%. While Valero and Devon each climbed more than 2%, EQT's 0.7% slip weighed on the sector.

— Alex Harring