Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed after Nasdaq sets a record ahead of Fed meeting
BANGKOK– Shares in Asia were mixed on Tuesday after the Nasdaq set a record ahead of a Nasdaq meeting Federal Reserve later this week that could set the direction for markets in the new year.
US futures were higher and oil prices fell.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2% to 39,528.23, helped by gains in technology stocks including Soft Sofa Group Corp., whose CEO Masayoshi Son joined newly elected President Donald Trump in announcing plans by the Japanese technology and telecom giant to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years.
SoftBank’s U.S. listed shares closed 0.6% higher.
Chinese markets fell further, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index losing 0.4% to 19,725.08. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.6% to 3,366.89.
Investors appeared disappointed with Beijing’s latest announcements on policies aimed at supporting economic growth and boosting consumer demand.
“In China, recent disappointing data continues to put pressure on domestic policymakers to step up policy stimulus to boost domestic demand,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 1% to 2,465.76 as authorities pushed for a summons has deposed President Yoon Suk Yeol for questioning about his short-lived decree of martial law from last week. The country’s Constitutional Court began its first meeting on Yoon’s case on Monday to determine whether he should be removed from office or reinstated.
The Australian S&The P/ASX 200 rose 0.8% to 8,314.10, while Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.2%. In Bangkok, the SET fell 0.2% lower.
On Monday, U.S. stock indexes fell in mixed trading.
The S&The P 500 rose 0.4% to 6,074.08 and the Nasdaq index climbed 1.2% to a record close of 20,173.89. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged, losing 0.3% to 43,717.48.
Broadcom rose 11.2% to close the S&P500 for the second day in a row after releasing an earnings report last week that exceeded analyst expectations thanks to the wave of enthusiasm over artificial intelligence offerings.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will announce its final interest rate change for the year. There is widespread expectation that interest rates will be cut for the third time in a row, in an effort to boost the slowing labor market after inflation was pushed back almost all the way to the 2% target.
The question is how much more rates will be cut next year, and Fed officials will release forecasts for where they see the federal funds rate ending up in 2025, along with other economic indicators, once their meeting ends. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will also answer questions at a news conference after the meeting.
Expectations for a series of Fed rate cuts have been one of the main reasons why the S&The P 500 has reached a record high 57 times this year so far and is on his way to one of his best years of the millennium. The economy has held up better than many feared and continues to grow even after the Fed raised interest rates to the highest rate in two decades in hopes of curbing inflation, which topped 9% two summers ago.
On Wall Street, MicroStrategy rose as much as 7% for the day as it continued to benefit from the rising price for bitcoinwhich set another all-time high of over $107,000 on Monday, according to CoinDesk. It was trading early Tuesday at $106,870.
Bitcoin’s price has risen as expected from around $44,000 at the start of the year Trump will favor digital currency.
The interest rate on government bonds remained relatively stable. The yield on the 10-year government bond fell from 4.40% at the end of Friday to 4.39% on Monday. The two-year interest rate, which is more in line with expectations for the Fed, fell from 4.25% to 4.24%.
In other trades early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude lost 12 cents to $70.59 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, lost 4 cents to $73.48 a barrel.
The US dollar fell from 154.14 yen to 154.05 Japanese yen. The euro was virtually unchanged at $1.0514.
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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.