Asian stocks are mostly higher following Wall Street's gains

Shares rose in Asia on Monday, following a strong week for Wall Street benchmarks.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was the outlier, falling 1.2% to 25,810.10, but other regional indices were higher.

Bangkok's SET index rose 4.3% on hopes for a recovery in the city's economy, which has been battered by the pandemic.

Wall Street closed higher on Friday as earnings season began and CEOs began to show how well or poorly they're navigating high inflation and a slowing economy. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.8% to 7,303.70. Taiwan also advanced.

The S&P 500 gained 0.4% to 3,999.09 on Friday, erasing an earlier loss and capping off its best week in two months. So far, it has maintained a 4.2% gain for 2023.

Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.3% to 34,302.61. The Nasdaq increased by 0.7% to 11,079.16.

Slowing segments of the economy and persistently high inflation are weighing on corporate profits, which are one of the primary drivers of stock prices. Friday was the first big day for S&P 500 companies to show how they fared in the final three months of 2022, with a slew of banks at the front of the line.tock.

On the losing end was Delta Air Lines, which sank 3.5% after it gave a forecast that thudded onto Wall Street. Despite reporting stronger results for the end of 2022 than expected, its forecast for profit this quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations.

One big worry on Wall Street is that S&P 500 firms may report a drop in profits for the fourth quarter from a year earlier.

If the economy does fall into a recession, as many investors expect, sharper drops for profits may be set for 2023. That's why the forecasts for upcoming earnings that CEOs give this reporting season may be even more important than their latest results.

A report released Friday morning showed U.S. consumers downshifted their expectations for inflation in the coming year, down to 4%, which is the lowest reading since April 2021. Long-run expectations for inflation, meanwhile, remain stuck in the narrow range of 2.9% to 3.1% that they've been in for 17 of the last 18 months, according to preliminary survey results from the University of Michigan.

The Federal Reserve has been intent on such numbers staying low. Otherwise, it could cause a vicious cycle that would only worsen inflation. Consumers could start accelerating their purchases in hopes of getting ahead of higher prices, for example, which would only push prices higher.

In other trading Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 39 cents to $79.47 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, the pricing standard for international trading, gained 6 cents to $82.31 per barrel in London.

The dollar was trading at 127.47 Japanese yen, down from 127.87 yen. The euro bought $1.0860, up from $1.0830.