Tokyo led Asian stocks overnight after President Trump shared optimism on social media about promising Japan-US trade talks. 

Main equity indexes 

Around 6 pm Wednesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "A Great Honor to have just met with the Japanese Delegation on Trade. Big Progress!" 

Then, as the clock neared 10 pm, the president posted this image:

The president's "big progress" trade talks with Japanese representatives did not immediately halt tariffs. Still, Japan's lead negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, said preparations are underway for a second round of negotiations in the not-too-distant future.

Akazawa, who Bloomberg quoted, said he met with Trump for an hour and then with U.S. negotiators from the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments for about 75 minutes.

"Both sides will engage in frank and constructive discussions and aim to reach a swift agreement," Akazawa said, adding that the U.S. sought a deal before the 90-day reprieve of the reciprocal tariffs.

In markets, Goldman analysts Chloe Garber, Jonathan Hurvitz, and Matthew Kaplan told clients that "big progress" trade talks overnight lifted sentiment, with Asia closing higher...

SPX futures +40bps // NDX +75bps // RTY +55bps // UST10yr +2bps @ 4.3% (U.S. bond mkt closes 2pm) // WTI +1.25% @ $63.25 // Bitcoin unch @ $84,300 as U.S. futures rally while Europe trades lower/Asia closed higher following optimism from US-Japan tariff talks ("big progress" was made – Trump). Taiwan Semi (+3% pre mkt) reported better numbers helping sentiment as well after NVDA closed -6.8% yday (down over -10% at one point).

The White House said earlier this week that more than 75 countries have reached out to discuss new trade deals. This comes as China and the U.S. remain locked in a trade war — but there was some good news on Wednesday:

Goldman's latest effective tariff rate on Chinese and U.S. goods... 

Meanwhile, Blackstone President Jonathan Gray warned that the U.S. economy risks recession unless these trade deals can be quickly made. There are already rumblings of global trade disruption on major maritime routes between China and the U.S. (read: here & here).