· Equities also got a boost Wednesday after the Commerce Department said nondefense durable goods orders posted their largest increase in six months in January, rising 0.8 percent. Overall durable goods orders also rose 0.4 percent while economists polled by Refinitiv expected a decline of 0.5 percent.
Meanwhile, U.S. construction spending posted its biggest increase in nine months, rising 1.3 percent in January. The leap was driven by a surge in public-project investments.
The data overshadowed a weaker-than-expected print on the producer price index.
· China's mobile phone market suffered its worst month in years as device shipments plunged, with the data potentially highlighting further signs of pain for Apple in the world's largest smartphone market.
Mobile phone shipments in China totaled 14.51 million in February, a nearly 20 percent year-on-year fall, according to data released Tuesday by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.
As well as the public holiday, Xi Wang, a Beijing-based China senior market analyst for IDC told CNBC that a number of factors including an economic slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, a saturated smartphone market and retailers having excess inventory all played a part in February's poor performance.
· Asia Pacific markets climbed Thursday following gains on Wall Street and as British lawmakers rejected the idea of leaving the European Union without a Brexit deal in place.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.88 percent while the Topix index was up 0.71 percent in early trade. In South Korea, the Kospi added 0.38 percent.
Reference: CNBC
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