TOKYO (AP) — Global stocks were mostly higher on Wednesday after comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stoked hopes of an interest rate cut.
A day earlier, at a meeting of central bank governors in Portugal, Powell acknowledged that inflation readings were improving after being disappointingly high at the start of the year. Investors are hoping that inflation will slow enough to convince the Fed to cut its key interest rate, which is at its highest in more than two decades and is putting a brake on the economy.
U.S. stock markets will have shortened trading hours on the Wednesday before the Fourth of July Independence Day on Thursday.
The most closely watched economic data of the week will be released on Friday, when the U.S. government releases the total number of jobs added by employers in June.
Early Wednesday, France’s CAC 40 rose nearly 1.0% in early trading to 7,612.99. Germany’s DAX rose 0.6% to 18,276.99. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6% to 8,169.20. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 rose 0.1%.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.3% to close at 40,580.76. Among technology stocks in Tokyo, Kyocera rose 3.1% and Murata Manufacturing surged 6.4%.
“All eyes will be on Japan’s Nikkei average, with tech stocks holding firm overnight while the Japanese yen is trading at a 38-year low and could continue to rise above the 40,000 yen mark,” said Yep Jun Rong, market analyst at IG.
The U.S. dollar rose to 161.83 yen on Wednesday from Tuesday’s close of 161.44 yen. The euro rose to $1.0761 from $1.0743.
Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose nearly 0.3% to 7,739.90. South Korea’s KOSPI rose 0.5% to 2,794.01. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.2% to 17,978.57 and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.5% to 2,982.38.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.6%, beating the all-time high it set two weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.8%, beating its own record set the previous day.
Positive signs from Wall Street included a 10.2% rise in shares of electric car maker Tesla Inc. after the company reported a smaller decline in sales in the spring than analysts had expected.
Oil prices have been mostly rising on hopes of stronger summer demand and the possibility of a hurricane damaging oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Beryl is slamming the Caribbean Sea.
Benchmark U.S. crude rose 24 cents to $83.05 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the international standard, Brent crude, added 27 cents to $86.51 a barrel.
