The Nasdaq marked a record closing high on Thursday with support from the technology sector while the benchmark S&P 500 barely managed to notch a record close as investors cautiously monitored private labor market data in the second day of a U.S. government shutdown. The benchmark index's valuation was around its highest level since 2020, with help from heavyweight technology companies including AI chip leader Nvidia and Broadcom. With no official government data available because of the shutdown, investors were monitoring information from other sources. A report from global...
European stocks are set to open in negative territory on Thursday, with French markets in focus after Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government was ousted in a no-confidence vote on Wednesday. A majority of lawmakers from the left-wing New Popular Front and the right-wing National Rally alliance backed the no-confidence motion in the country's lower house late yesterday. The motion was brought by the left-wing and right-wing blocs on Monday after Barnier, who has only been in power for three months, used special constitutional powers to force a social security spending bill through...
China stocks rose modestly on Thursday, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.1% to around 3,370 and the Shenzhen Component up 0.3% to 10,636, recovering losses from the previous session. However, concerns over China's economic challenges and escalating trade tensions with the U.S. kept investors cautious. The November PMI report showed a second straight month of expansion in China's manufacturing sector, although growth in the services sector slowed. Meanwhile, Beijing recently banned exports of critical minerals with military applications to the U.S., a retaliatory move in response to...
Hong Kong stocks plunged 200 points, or 1.0%, to 19,544 on Thursday morning, after a quiet session the previous day, as the sector's overall decline was broadly broad. Traders were concerned about the impact of political instability in South Korea and France. They also shied away from riskier assets amid a potential trade war between China and the US, fueled by technology sanctions from the Biden administration and threats of tariffs from newly elected President Trump. An unexpected slowdown in China's services activity last month added to market jitters. Meanwhile, US stock futures were...
The Nikkei 225 index rose 0.5% to around 39,460 while the broader Topix index gained 0.2% to 2,745 on Thursday, extending this week's rally and tracking gains on Wall Street overnight where the three major U.S. indexes closed at fresh record highs. The advances were driven by strong corporate earnings and optimism around the artificial intelligence boom, with major U.S. tech companies highlighting the significant boost they are receiving from the sector. In Japan, investors continued to focus on the outlook for monetary policy, with market sentiment divided on the timing of the Bank of...
Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed on Thursday, as all three major Wall Street indexes hit record highs, buoyed by a tech rally and comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Investors in Asia will continue to monitor the political situation in South Korea. Less than a day after he declared martial law, lawmakers in the country moved to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol. South Korea released revised gross domestic product for the third quarter, showing the economy grew 0.1% quarter-on-quarter, and 1.5% year-on-year. The figures matched advanced estimates. Australia's S&P/ASX...