Japan's Nikkei 225 index responded to Wall Street's upward mobility by gaining 0.52 percent in early Asian trade before sliding slightly. The index is up over 3 percent since January 1 and made headlines earlier this week when it hit a 26-year high. The Shanghai Composite was up 0.63 percent as of 2:34 p.m. HK/SIN and South Korea's Kospi was up a modest 0.06 percent. Australia's ASX 200 was down 0.02 percent in the early afternoon.

Currency Movements

The dollar clawed its way back on Thursday after spiking 0.75 percent overnight and perhaps finally beginning to recover from its recent slump. The dollar was trading at 111.16 against the yen up from lows of 110.190. The dollar continued to struggle against the euro, trading at $1.2202 after the euro hit a three-year high of $1.2300. The euro has been rallying for most of this month on expectations that the European central bank will bring its monetary stimulus to an end in the near future. The dollar index was down 0.17 to 90.82 .DXY after closing at 90.98 .DXY on Wednesday.