It was a bullish start to the Thursday session for the Asian markets. The Hang Seng Index led the ASX 200 and the Nikkei as investors responded to economic indicators from China and news from Washington. Better-than-expected US job openings and easing bets on a Fed interest rate hike in June were also bullish. US Job openings increased from 9.745 million to 10.103 million in April versus a forecasted 9.775 million. Despite the job opening numbers, the talk of hitting the pause button in June to allow the FOMC to digest economic indicators led to the markets taking off bets on a June interest rate hike. According to ... (full story)