Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed after Wall Street retreats from all-time highs

By ELAINE KURTENBACH
AP Business Writer

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday after Wall Street slipped a bit further from its record highs.

Oil prices fell while U.S. futures edged higher.

Chinese shares slipped even as China’s central bank governor told a high-level business conference in Beijing that the ailing property industry was showing signs of recovery and that the impact from defaults of dozens of developers was limited.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.8% to 16,485.26 and the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.5% at 3,015.74.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.1% to 40,848.95 and the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 7,799.10.

In Bangkok, the SET was little changed. India’s Sensex was up 0.3% and the Taiex in Taiwan also advanced 0.3%.

“Traders are keenly awaiting further guidance from Federal Reserve officials and key economic indicators from China, along with ongoing discussions around fiscal policies,” Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a commentary.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 5,203.58 for its third straight modest drop since setting an all-time high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1% to 39,282.33, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.4% to 16,315.70.

Stock indexes were modestly higher for much of the day thanks to several Big Tech stocks. Tesla rose 2.9%, and Alphabet ticked up by 0.4%. But a late-day slide by Nvidia ended up helping to pull the market lower. It fell 2.5%.

Krispy Kreme soared 39.4%, after it announced a deal where McDonald’s restaurants will sell its doughnuts across the country. Another food company, McCormick, climbed 10.5% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The seller of spices, hot sauces and seasonings also said its sales are likely to be at the higher end of its projections.

Trump Media & Technology Group was another big mover, jumping 16.1%. It was the first day of trading for the company under its new ticker, “DJT,” which are the initials of former President Donald Trump. The company took the place of a shell company that had been trading on the Nasdaq after the two merged.

The stock’s price has shot well beyond what several experts say is reasonable, driven by excitement about Trump’s latest run for the White House. The company’s main asset, Truth Social, is losing money and expects to continue to do so while competing against rivals that likely have many more users.

The overall U.S. stock market is also facing criticism that it’s become too expensive, though not as much as Trump Media & Technology Group has received.

The S&P 500 has already roared 9% higher this year and is on track to close out its fifth straight winning month as the economy remains resilient despite high interest rates meant to get inflation under control. Plus, the Federal Reserve looks set to start lowering interest rates this year because inflation has cooled from its peak.

But critics say a broader range of companies will need to deliver strong profit growth to justify their big moves in price. Progress on bringing inflation down has also become bumpier recently, with reports this year coming in hotter than expected.

Still, the broad expectation among traders is for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting its main interest rate in June. Some even see a slight possibility of it starting at its meeting next week.

A U.S. government report showed orders for machinery, computers and other long-lasting manufactured goods rose in February following two months of drops.

But a later report from the Conference Board said confidence among U.S. consumers unexpectedly weakened. Solid spending by U.S. consumers has been one of the linchpins keeping the economy out of a long-predicted recession.

In other trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 62 cents to $81.00 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 67 cents to $84.96 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar rose to 151.73 Japanese yen from 151.56 yen. The euro slipped to $1.0826 from $1.0833.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.