This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.
Asia-Pacific markets are set to mostly climb on Monday, with investors looking to several major central back decisions due this week including the Bank of Japan and the People's Bank of China.
The Federal Reserve's decision on Dec. 18 stateside will also be top of mind for investors, with the CME Fedwatch tool forecasting a 96% chance of a 25-basis-points cut.
The BOJ is likely to hold rates when it releases its decision on Thursday, while the PBOC will announce its loan prime rates on Friday. The one-year LPR influences corporate loans and most household loans in China, while the five-year LPR serves as a benchmark for mortgage rates.
On Monday traders will be assessing an economic data dump out from China, including November numbers for industrial production, retail sales and home prices in the country.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 is set to rise, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,740 and its counterpart in Osaka at 39,600 against the index's last close of 39,470.44.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 started the day down 0.27%.
In contrast, futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stood at 19,965, pointing to a slightly weaker open compared to the HSI's close of 19,971.24.
On Friday in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for a seventh session on Friday, losing 0.2% and posting its longest run of losses since 2020.
On the other hand, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.12% and the broad-based S&P 500 ended the session little changed, closing at 6,051.09.
-- CNBC's Sean Conlon and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.
Morgan Stanley has identified the companies that are set to benefit from Amazon's launch of its new artificial intelligence chip.
The Big Tech giant's cloud computing division Amazon Web Services launched its Trainium 2 AI chip earlier this month. AWS hopes these chips will help it diversify away from Nvidia, its primary AI chip supplier.
The investment bank said seven Taiwanese companies are set to benefit from AWS's new Trainium 2 AI chip.
Stocks may be due for more upside in the coming weeks, according to Piper Sandler.
"As we approach mid-December, the equity markets remain constructive within their primary uptrends into year-end," said chief market technician Craig Johnson, who has a year-end S&P 500 target of 6,100. His year-end 2025 target for the broad market index is 6,600.
"Alternating tactical rotations between large caps and SMID caps appears to be a developing short-term theme within the context of the broadening process," he continued. "Use 'healthy' pullbacks that confirm support to add to positions."
-- Sean Conlon
Technical strategist Katie Stockton is expecting a strong finish to the year before a likely correction in the first quarter of 2025.
"Intermediate term momentum is still very strongly positive and we're seeing fresh breakouts from some large-cap names," the founder and managing partner of Fairlead Strategies said on CNBC's "Money Movers" on Friday.
Those breakouts can contribute to a little upside follow-through before a corrective phase in the first quarter, she added.
"Keep eye out on sell signals. Maybe hold off on new purchases, except where you do have those breakouts or some kind of near-term catalyst to take advantage of," Stockton said. "It would be great to have some cash to put to work when we do get that first correction."
-- Michelle Fox
Wall Street is out with its 2025 outlook, and while strategists are broadly optimistic stocks can still go higher, they are also anticipating a turbulent market in the year ahead.
The S&P 500 is expected to end next year at 6,630, according to the average forecast from the CNBC Market Strategist Survey released Friday. That level represents about a 9.6% advance from where the S&P 500 closed Thursday, in line with the historical returns of any given year for the broad market.