World stocks continuously surpass peaks

Green covers the world stock market, key indexes from the US to Japan set new records.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index briefly surpassed the 38,000-point mark in today's trading session, up more than 3% - the first time since the asset bubble burst in 1990. In the Toyo market, the Topix Index rose 2.12% to 2,612.03 points, also at a 34-year high.

Asia-Pacific stock markets were mostly higher in today's trading session, as many markets returned to trading after the Lunar New Year holiday, including South Korea and Singapore.

Japan's consumer price index rose 0.2 percent in January, beating Reuters' forecast of a 0.1 percent gain. The gain was similar to the revised figure for December a year ago.

South Korea's Kospi index also remained green, up 1.12% when it returned to trading and closed at 2,649.64, with Kosdaq up 2.25%.

On the other side of the globe, US stocks also ended the first trading session of the week at a new record high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 125.69 points, or 0.33 percent, to 38,797.38, setting a new record for the index. Last Friday, the S&P 500 closed above 5,000 for the first time, a new all-time high.

All three major U.S. stock indexes are on track for their fifth straight week of gains, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite up 1.4% and 2.3%, respectively, last week. The S&P 500 is up more than 5% year to date.

"While US stocks are rallying on positive news, we believe the rally is well supported," said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Traders are looking ahead to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a key inflation measure, due for release later today. A number of key economic data are due this week, including January figures on retail sales, manufacturing, imports and exports, new homes and the producer price index (PPI).

"The Fed has emphasized that they need to see 'greater confidence' in inflation data to begin a cutting cycle. We think some of the confidence the Fed is looking for will be there," Meghan Swiber, a strategist at Bank of America, wrote in a note to investors.

However, the market’s strong rally over the past three months has raised concerns about a possible correction. According to Bespoke Investment Group , the S&P 500 has now gone more than 70 trading days without falling more than 2%.

Minh Son (according to CNBC)

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