HONG KONG (AP) — Global stock markets continued to rise on Thursday after Wall Street hit a record high on Wednesday as enthusiasm over artificial intelligence technology continued to drive stock prices higher.
European markets opened higher as investors awaited a decision from the European Central Bank, which is expected to cut its key interest rate from a record 4% later in the day. France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3% to 8,032.86, while Germany’s DAX jumped 1% to 18,758.43. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2% to 8,259.40.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.1%, while S&P 500 futures were unchanged.
In Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 0.6% to 38,703.51, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.3% to 18,480.61 and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.5% to 3,048.79.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.7 percent to 7,821.80 after Australia’s trade surplus rebounded in April, with exports falling 2.5 percent and imports dropping 7.2 percent, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 1.9%, but shares in electronics components maker Foxconn fell 1.2%, even as the company reported a 22.1% increase in sales in May from a year earlier, its highest ever month.
In India, the Sensex index rose 0.7% after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s coalition government won a majority in parliament in Wednesday’s general election. In Bangkok, the SET fell 0.6%.
South Korean markets were closed for a public holiday.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.2%, to 5,354.03. The Nasdaq Composite rose 2%, to 17,187.90, also hitting a record high. The less tech-heavy Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%, to 38,807.33, underperforming the market.
The rise has pushed Nvidia, a poster child for the AI boom, to a market capitalization of more than $3 trillion for the first time.
Nvidia, which led the way because its chips power much of the rapid move into AI, rose another 5.2% to bring its gains this year to more than 147%.
The company also joins Microsoft and Apple as the only U.S. stocks with a market capitalization above $3 trillion, with Apple climbing 0.8% on Wednesday to reclaim that milestone.
The retail sector as a whole highlights the challenges facing lower-income American families as they try to keep up with still-high inflation.
In the bond market, Treasury yields fell after mixed data on the economy. One report said real estate, health care and other U.S. services sectors returned to growth last month, beating economists’ expectations. Perhaps more importantly for Wall Street, the Institute for Supply Management report also said price growth slowed in May from the previous month.
A separate report said hiring at U.S. employers other than the government slowed more than expected last month.
The weaker-than-expected economic data has raised expectations of future interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, sending Treasury yields lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.31% from Tuesday’s close of 4.33% and 4.60% a week ago.
Meanwhile, benchmark U.S. crude rose 52 cents to $74.59 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, rose 51 cents to $78.92 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 156.37 yen from 156.10 yen. The euro rose to 1.0875 dollars from 1.0868 dollars.
