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

Asia-Pacific markets opened mostly higher on Tuesday, following gains on Wall Street that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average reach a record close amid a strong start to the earnings season.

Investors in Asia will asses trade data out of Japan in the morning and job numbers out of Australia.

Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.5%, while the broad-based Topix was little changed.

Japan's exports fell 1.7% in September compared to the same period last year, surprising economists polled by Reuters who expected a 0.5% growth rate. It's the first time that exports contracted this year and was down sharply from a revised growth rate of 5.5% in August. 

September's import growth came in at 2.1% also missing expectations of economists who expected growth of 3.2%. The figure was down from August's growth of 2.3%.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8% in early trading.

Australia's unemployment rate for September in at 4.1%, slightly down from a Reuters poll that expected it to remain unchanged from August at 4.2%.

Australia's labor participation rate slightly increased to 67.2% in September, up 0.1 percentage points from August as well as forecasts.

South Korea's Kospi was trading up 0.1%, while the small-cap Kosdaq was down 0.1%.

The Hong Kong Hang Seng index opened up 1.9% following a number of policy announcements from its chief executive on Wednesday.

Mainland China's CSI 300 was trading up 0.7% at open as the country's housing ministry held a briefing on efforts to support the property sector.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is set to report earnings later Thursday. TSMC's results will be in focus after poor sales forecasts from Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML drove down global chip stocks.

Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones gained 337.28 points, or 0.79%, to ended at 43,077.70.

The S&P 500 added 0.47% to 5,842.47, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.28% to close at 18,367.08.

— CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.

Australia job numbers mostly on target

Australia's unemployment rate for the month of September came in at 4.1%, slightly down from a Reuters poll that forecasted it to remain unchanged from August at 4.2%.

Australia's labor participation rate slightly increased to 67.2% in September, up 0.1 percentage points from August and Reuters' forecasts.

— Dylan Butts 

Singapore exports expand but miss expectations

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports expanded by 2.7% in the month of September from a year ago, according to data released by Enterprise Singapore.

The rise fell far short of the growth rate of 9.3% forecast by economists polled by Reuters as well as the 10.7% growth in August. 

— Dylan Butts

Japan trade data misses expectations

Japan's trade data for September sharply missed estimates for both exports and imports.

September exports fell 1.7% compared to the same period last year, surprising economists polled by Reuters who expected growth of 0.5% growth rate. It's the first time that exports contracted this year and was down sharply from a revised growth rate of 5.5% in August. 

Import growth for the month came in at 2.1% missing expectations of a 3.2% growth rate, and down from August's growth of 2.3%.

— Dylan Butts

CNBC Pro: These 9 biotech stocks have doubled this year and are set to double again, analysts say

Nine healthcare stocks have more than doubled this year and yet have more than 100% upside potential, according to analysts.

CNBC Pro screened more than 85,000 equities worldwide for stocks that had risen by 100% in 2024, researched by at least five or more analysts, and a median price target pointing to more than 100% upside potential.

The bio tech stocks have on average risen by 188% this year and have a median upside potential of 150%.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

CNBC Pro: Barclays names UK ‘conviction’ stock ideas for the fourth quarter — giving two over 35% upside

Barclays has named a raft of global stocks for investors to consider buying before the end of the year, naming "conviction stock ideas with catalysts."

The bank's list includes six overweight-rated stocks from the U.K., two of which it gave over 35% upside.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

Analysts finally begin lowering 2025 earnings growth rate, Strategas says

With the third-quarter earnings season fully underway, analysts have finally begun lowering the bar for their expectations, according to Strategas.

"The traditional EPS decay that S&P EPS typically undergo has largely been avoided for 2025 up until this point. However, analysts have finally begun to revise figures lower in tandem with revising 2024 figures lower as well. Current figures still reflect a nearly 15% growth rate for CY '25 on top of margin expectations to be the highest on record if these earnings figures come to fruition," said strategist Ryan Grabinski.

In the third quarter, Grabinski expects that technology stocks were the biggest contributor to earnings growth, while energy was the biggest detractor.

— Lisa Kailai Han

UBS says to stay invested, despite stocks trading near all-time highs

Equities may be trading at their all-time highs, but UBS says this is no time to cash out.

"Our analysis of the past 60+ years shows that S&P 500 returns in the 3, 6, and 12 months following an all-time high are basically the same as all other periods," the firm wrote in a note to clients. "At the same time, we anticipate the macroeconomic and earnings environments to remain favorable, which supports staying invested in equities."

However, the bank believes economic growth will slow from here, thereby recommending investors stay selective and focused on "quality companies with strong balance sheets and consistent earnings." Many companies that meet this criteria are in the tech sector, UBS said.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Bank of America says labor market will continue to soften despite strong September report

The strong September jobs report was enough to convince the Federal Reserve that it needed to readjust the pace of its interest rate reductions. But Bank of America is not convinced that this strength in the labor market is here to stay.

"The bottom line is that we don't think there was sufficient evidence to change our soft-landing outlook for the labor market," wrote U.S. economist Shruti Mishra. "Following the strong September employment report print, we revised our Fed call but made no change to our labor market outlook."

Mishra pointed to three reasons for her skepticism.

First of all, job growth was narrow, as the so-called "catch-up sectors" such as leisure, education and government roles made up most of the job increases in September. The month is also traditionally seasonally noisy due to schools restarting and summer jobs ending. Lastly, Mishra pointed out that the report only encompassed one month of data.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Bank funds rally as earnings roll in

Two banking exchange-traded funds have climbed in recent days as investors parsed earnings reports from financial institutions.

The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) has jumped more than 7% over the past five trading days, while the broader SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) has added more than 6%. By comparison, the S&P 500 has risen less than 1% during the same period.

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo reported earnings late last week. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and U.S. Bank have all posted financial results over the course of this week.

— Alex Harring

Small caps outperform

Small-cap stocks outperformed Wednesday, with the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) up 1.6% and on pace for a fourth straight day of gains. That's compared to the S&P 500's 0.3% rise.

Week to date, the IWM is higher by 2.4%, while the broad market index has gained 0.3%.

Small caps are showing signs of life after the Federal Reserve's big half-point rate cut in September bolstered investor sentiment in the asset class.

— Sarah Min