There are few major economic reports this week, other than an update on how much U.S. shoppers are spending at U.S. retail stores on Tuesday and a preliminary outlook for the current state of U.S. business activity on Friday. U.S. markets are closed on Wednesday for Juneteenth Memorial Day.
In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei average rose 1 percent to 38,482.11. Market leader Toyota Motor Corp added 0.5 percent after shareholders rejected a proposal to force Toyoda Akio, the grandson of the company’s founder, to step down from his role as chairman.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.1% to 17,915.55, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4% to 3,028.34.
In South Korea, the KOSPI rose 0.7% to 2,763.92.
In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1% to 7,778.10 after the Reserve Bank of Australia kept its key interest rate unchanged.
“Having noted at its May meeting that inflation was falling more slowly than expected, the central bank today called inflation ‘sustainable’ and stressed that headline inflation and inflation excluding variable items and travel have not fallen further between April and December,” Capital Economics said in a commentary.
“Economic activity momentum remains weak,” the central bank said in a statement, citing slowing GDP growth, rising unemployment and slower-than-expected wage growth.
India’s Sensex index rose 0.3% to 77,257.63.
U.S. stocks rose to record highs on Monday as technology company profits continued to lift the market.
The S&P 500 rose 0.8%, surpassing the all-time high it hit on Thursday, to close at 5,473.23. The Dow rose 0.5% to 38,778.10 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1% to 17,857.02.
Gains in tech stocks helped offset pressure on stocks from rising Treasury yields in the bond market, which took some of the slack created last week when a better-than-expected report on inflation raised expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates later this year.
The Fed wants to keep interest rates high long enough to slow the economy and tame high inflation, but it also wants to cut rates to reverse momentum before the slowdown turns into a painful recession.
High interest rates hurt all kinds of investments, but they tend to hit some sectors harder than others. Utilities stocks in the S&P 500 index fell 1.1%, their biggest drop on Monday among the index’s 11 sectors.
Meanwhile, benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 14 cents to $80.19 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude fell 31 cents to $84.10 a barrel.
The dollar rose to 158.18 yen from 157.70 yen. The euro was trading at 1.0720 dollars from 1.0702 dollars.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
