Morning bid: Japan leads the way, China feels the heat

May 18 (Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever. Investors in Asia go into Thursday with some major economic indicators from Japan and Australia and an interest rate decision from the Philippines on tap, and a spring in their step as hopes rise that a deal on the U.S. debt ceiling is in sight. The optimism was reflected in the broad rally on Wall Street on Wednesday that pushed the three main U.S. indexes up more than 1%, the dollar to a seven-week high, and saw one-month U.S. Treasury bill yields slide sharply…