Wall Street's three major indexes managed to close Tuesday's choppy session higher, marking quarterly and monthly gains, even as investors braced for a U.S. government shutdown, which would delay key economic reports and muddy the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy outlook. With investors having bet for some time on a spate of further Fed rate cuts, the benchmark S&P 500, the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the Dow all gained for the second quarter in a row. For the S&P 500 and the Dow, it also marked their fifth straight monthly gain while the Nasdaq registered its sixth straight monthly...
Japanese stocks fall as uncertainty over a U.S. government shutdown and the impact of tariffs on earnings persists. Financial stocks lead declines. Dai-ichi Life Holdings declines 2.5% and Mizuho Financial Group is 1.9% lower. USD/JPY is at 148.13, compared with 148.19 as of Tuesday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are focusing on any developments related to a potential U.S. government shutdown as well as the leadership election for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. The Nikkei Stock Average is down 0.3% at 44802.93. Source: Dow Jones Newswires
Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed Wednesday, following gains on Wall Street ahead of a potential U.S. government shutdown as lawmakers continue to wrangle over details of a second temporary spending bill. Investors in Asia will look toward the Reserve Bank of India's rate decision late Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 sunk 0.2% at its open, while the broad based Topix was down 0.85%. In South Korea, the blue-chip Kospi was up 0.94%, and the small-cap Kosdaq gained 0.84%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.32% in early trade. Markets on mainland China and Hong Kong were closed for a...