Asian stocks extended their gains into a third day, tracking advances on Wall Street as weak US consumer data lifted bets on a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut next month. MSCI's regional stock gauge rose 1.2%. Almost all of the 11 industry groups in the index advanced, with as many as three stocks gaining for every one that fell. That came after US benchmarks posted their third day of gains. Chinese equities opened steady as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. shares fell as much as 2.8% in Hong Kong trading after its earnings. For more outlook on the markets, we spoke to William Bratton, Head of Cash Equity Research for the Asia Pacific at BNP Paribas.

Plus - US consumer confidence slid in November by the most in seven months on growing anxiety about the labor market and the economy. The Conference Board's gauge decreased 6.8 points to 88.7, data out Tuesday showed. The figure was weaker than all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. A gauge of expectations for the next six months declined to the lowest level since April, while a measure of present conditions slumped to a more than one-year low. And in regards to  individual stock movers, Alphabet Inc. came off session highs that had driven the search giant closer to a $4 trillion valuation, after The Information reported that Meta Platforms Inc. is in talks to use Google's AI chips. Shares of Nvidia Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Oracle Corp. remained lower. We get perspective from Jim Worden, CIO, The Wealth Consulting Group.

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