Asian investors struggled Wednesday to track a positive lead from Wall Street as they assess the prospect of an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war, Donald Trump’s second presidency and the outlook for US interest rates.They were also keenly awaiting the release of earnings from chip behemoth Nvidia later in the day, which many see as a bellwether of the tech sector and AI demand that have helped power markets to multiple record highs this year.Traders were treading carefully this week amid uncertainty after Trump’s re-election and as he picks his cabinet, with several China hawks up for key positions fanning worries of another trade war between the economic superpowers.The tycoon has pledged to ramp up tariffs on imports, with China particularly in his sights, but observers warn that such a move — along with planned tax cuts — could relight still stubborn inflation.That has dampened hopes for several Federal Reserve interest rate cuts next year.Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine has burst back into the thoughts of traders as Moscow vowed to react “accordingly” after saying Kyiv had fired its first US-made long-range missile into Russian territory.Washington this week said it had cleared Kyiv to use the US-supplied Army Tactical Missile System against military targets inside Russia — a long-standing Ukrainian request.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the attack showed Western countries wanted to “escalate” the conflict, adding that “we will be taking this as a qualitatively new phase of the Western war against Russia”.President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Tuesday lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons, which the White House, Britain and the European Union called “irresponsible”.Growing worries that the war will ramp up to another, more dangerous level weighed on sentiment in Europe but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose for a second straight day in New York.Asia, however, was mostly in the red, with Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington and Taipei in retreat. Seoul, Manila and Jakarta bucked the trend.The main focus of attention Wednesday is the upcoming earnings from Nvidia, the world’s most expensive listed company and market darling.The company has rocketed 200 percent this year — and an eye-watering 2,670 in the past five years — on the back of an unprecedented surge in demand for all things linked to artificial intelligence.There are hopes it will live up to expectations and provide some insight into its new chips. The firm’s shares rose nearly five percent on Tuesday.”Nvidia’s earnings will serve as a major test, given its status as the largest company by market cap and a cornerstone of the AI revolution,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets.”The central question: Is the AI theme robust enough to sustain investor enthusiasm, or is it on shaky ground.”Finalto.com’s Neil Wilson said investors will be “hungry for guidance on the new chips”. “Nvidia’s Blackwell chip should become available in the first quarter of next year and could bring in between $5 billion and $8 billion, according to (investment bank) Piper Sandler,” he said.Bitcoin was sitting around the $92,000 mark after hitting a new all-time peak above 94,031 on Tuesday.- Key figures around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.5 percent at 38,242.35 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.1 percent at 19,640.50Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,344.39Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0601 from $1.0599 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2690 from $1.2682Dollar/yen: UP at 154.85 yen from 154.67 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 83.52 pence from 83.54 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $69.53 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.2 percent at $73.20 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 43,268.94 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 8,099.02 (close)

Hundreds of employees of French cognac maker Hennessy, part of the LVMH group luxury empire, went on strike on Tuesday to protest measures the brand plans to employ to circumvent Chinese tariffs imposed in a spat with the EU.Some 500-600 staff in cognac’s home Charente region in southwestern France were protesting at an experimental plan to export the drink in vats, rather than bottles, which will be subject to additional taxes estimated at 35 percent, France’s CGT and FO unions said.”Management told us they wanted to do tests on exporting the products in vats with a view to future bottling in China by a service provider” and no longer in France, Frederic Merceron, FO representative at Hennessy, told AFP.”We can well imagine the impact on employment,” he added, describing the news as a “cold shower.” “This is a first for a major house. It’s a real spanner in the works,” said Matthieu Devers of the CGT union, predicting that other cognac producers would follow suit.The strike at the Hennessy plant in the town of Cognac, which employs 1,100 people, is open-ended, though a source close to Hennessy, asking not to be named, said that “dialogue is possible.”Since October 11, China has required importers of European brandies — of which cognac represents 95 percent of the total — to submit a deposit or a bank guarantee letter with Chinese customs authorities.The measure is part of what Beijing describes as an anti-dumping investigation. But the move is widely seen as retaliation for the EU slapping tariffs on electric cars imported from China, which is the second biggest export market for cognac.Devers said a first test delivery to be carried out by the end of 2024 would ascertain if the quality of the drink is maintained after transport.He described as “bizarre” a suggestion that materials including glassware, labels, corks and boxes be shipped to China with the drink then bottled there.France’s umbrella cognac producers association BNIC said it did not want to comment on the individual strategies of companies.But it added: “It should be noted that while waiting for a negotiated solution, and in view of the deterioration that we have noted, certain houses could be forced to explore all avenues that would allow them to maintain the presence on the Chinese market.”The cognac industry, which is heavily dependent on exports, now fears it will be targeted in the United States, its biggest market, following the election of Donald Trump, who plans to step up customs duties across the board.