Stock market today: Asian shares mixed after Wall Street’s lull stretches to a 2nd day
HONG KONG — Asian shares were mixed on Thursday after a lull on Wall Street extended into a second day, with Chinese benchmarks rising after China reported better-than-expected trading figures for April.
US futures were slightly lower and oil prices rose.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index fell 0.3% to 38,073.98.
The shares of car manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors Corp. fell 4.9% after the company forecast a 7% lower net profit for the fiscal year ending March 2025.
Toyota Motor fell 0.4% after reporting on Wednesday that it doubled its net profit in the fiscal year ended in March.
The US dollar rose to 155.72 Japanese yen from 155.52 yen as reports in Tokyo speculated on the likelihood of further intervention by the Treasury Department to curb the yen’s decline.
“If necessary, we are always prepared to do so. Maybe we’ll do it today. Maybe we will do it tomorrow,” said Masato Kanda, the deputy finance minister for international affairs.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.1% to 18,508.53 and the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.6% to 3,148.34.
China reported that exports rose 1.5% in April from a year earlier, while imports rose 8.4%. The renewed growth signals a stronger recovery in demand than previous data had suggested.
In South Korea, the Kospi lost 1.1% to 2,714.50. The Australian S&The P/ASX 200 lost 1.1% to 7,721.60.
On Wednesday the S&The P500 finished virtually unchanged after swinging between modest gains and losses throughout the day. It fell 0.03 to 5,187.67 after a very slight gain on Tuesday, which followed a big three-day winning streak.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% to 39,056.39, and the Nasdaq index fell 0.2% to 16,302.76.
Uber Technologies fell 5.7% after reporting worse results for its latest quarter than analysts expected. It also provided a forecast range for bookings in the current quarter, the midpoint of which was below analyst estimates.
Shopify fell 18.6% despite reporting better earnings and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company, which helps businesses sell things online, said sales growth would likely slow this quarter and it would likely make less profit on every $1 of sales.
Match Group fell 5.4% despite high profit expectations. The company behind Tinder, Hinge and other dating apps gave a forecast for current quarter revenue that fell short of what analysts expected.
Intel fell 2.2% after the US Commerce Department revoked its licenses for exports to a Chinese customer. That could cause current quarter sales to fall below the midpoint of the previously forecast range.
They helped offset Lyft, which ran 7.1% higher after beating expectations for profit and revenue. The company said growth was especially strong for early morning commutes and weekend evening travel.
Arista Networks climbed 6.5% for the biggest gain in the S&P500 after exceeding expectations for both profit and revenue. The company sells network components to large-scale operations such as data centers or cloud computing networks.
Most companies reported stronger profits for the start of the year than analysts expected. That and revived hopes for upcoming Federal Reserve interest rate cuts have helped the US stock market bounce back from a difficult April.
Treasury yields have largely fallen since Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last week that the central bank remains closer to cutting its key interest rate than raising it, despite a series of stubbornly high inflation numbers this year. A cooler-than-expected jobs report on Friday, meanwhile, suggested the U.S. economy could accomplish the balancing act of remaining solid enough to avoid a severe recession without being so strong that inflation remains too high.
In other trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 39 cents to $79.38 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 27 cents to $83.85 a barrel.
The euro fell from $1.0747 to $1.0741.
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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.