Stock market today: Asia mixed after Wall St rallies ahead of US inflation update

By JOE McDONALD
AP Business Writer

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed in early trading Tuesday after Wall Street rallied and Japanese wages rose ahead of a United States inflation update that might influence Federal Reserve plans for more possible interest rate hikes.

Tokyo advanced while Shanghai and Hong Kong declined. Oil prices gained.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index gained 0.9% on Monday, recovering one-third of last week’s loss.

“U.S. stocks started the week in better form than they finished the last one,” said ING analysts in a report. “It is not clear that this is going to last, though.”

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 0.3% after the Japanese government reported labor cash earnings rose 2.3% in June.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2% to 3,264.03 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 1.2% to 19,311.32. The Kospi in Seoul lost less than 0.1% to 2,579.01 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.2% to 7,322.20. New Zealand retreated while Southeast Asian markets rose.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose to 4,518.44 ahead of Thursday’s U.S. inflation update. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1.2% to 35,473.13. The Nasdaq composite added 85.16, or 0.6%, to 13,994.40.

Berkshire Hathaway rose 3.6% after reporting stronger profit and revenue than analysts expected.

Pharmaceutical company Viatris also rose after its results topped forecasts. Viatris stock climbed 3.9%.

Corporate profits have been mostly beating forecasts for the April-June period. Nearly four out of five companies in the S&P 500 have topped expectations so far, according to FactSet. But they’re still on track to report their sharpest drop in profit since summer 2020, when the pandemic was pummeling the global economy.

Inflation has been the key to Wall Street’s big moves after soaring to a two-decade high of about 9% a year ago before gradually declining.

That has raised hopes the Federal Reserve may decide upward pressure on prices is under control and no more interest rate hikes are needed to cool business and consumer activity. Inflation fell to 3% in June, though that’s still above the Fed’s 2% target.

Some forecasters have warned traders are assuming too early that rate hikes are finished and the Fed can achieve a “soft landing” of extinguishing inflation without tipping the world’s biggest economy into a recession.

Forecasters expect Thursday’s data to show consumer prices rose by 3.3% in July over a year ago, an acceleration from June.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude rose 28 cents to $82.22 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 88 cents on Monday to $81.94. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, advanced 27 cents to $85.61 per barrel in London. It lost 90 cents the previous session to $85.34.

The dollar rose to 143.29 yen from Monday’s 142.44 yen. The euro declined to $1.0986 from $1.1007.