Asian shares mixed after muddled day of trading on Wall St

By ELAINE KURTENBACH
AP Business Writer

Shares are mixed in Asia after an up-and-down day on Wall Street ended with most benchmarks lower as traders waited for updates on inflation and corporate earnings. Stocks fell in Tokyo, Sydney and Shanghai but rose in Seoul. Hong Kong was closed for a holiday. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% Tuesday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%. The Nasdaq slipped 0.1%, but small-company stocks ended higher. A mix of retailers and other companies that rely on direct consumer spending gained ground, but those gains were offset by falling technology and communications stocks. U.S. crude oil prices held steady at just above $80 a barrel. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.57%.