Current:Home > MarketsStock market today: Asian shares slide after tech, rising oil prices drag Wall St lower -Quantum Capital Pro
Stock market today: Asian shares slide after tech, rising oil prices drag Wall St lower
View
Date:2025-04-14 09:05:08
Stocks fell Wednesday in Asia after a slide in technology stocks dragged Wall Street lower ahead of a key report on U.S. inflation.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.2% to 17,986,56 and the Shanghai Composite index sank 0.8% to 3,113.18.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index shed 0.2% to 32,706.52, while the Kospi in Seoul edged 0.1% lower, to 2,533.61. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.7% to 7,154.60.
Shares rose in India and Taiwan but fell in Southeast Asia.
Regional markets have been relatively quiet ahead of this week’s release of Chinese and U.S. economic data.
Wednesday will bring the latest monthly update on prices that U.S. consumers are paying across the country. Economists expect it to show that prices were broadly 3.6% higher last month than a year earlier.
Thursday will bring reports about inflation at the wholesale level and sales at U.S. retailers. Strong spending by U.S. households has helped keep the U.S. economy humming, but it could also be encouraging companies to keep trying to raise their prices further.
Stocks have been see-sawing in recent weeks amid the revived uncertainty about whether the Federal Reserve is done with its avalanche of hikes to interest rates. The central bank has already pushed its main interest rate to the highest level in more than two decades, trying to get inflation back down to its target of 2%.
High interest rates work to undercut inflation by slowing anentire economy and knocking down prices for stocks and other investments.
Inflation has subsided from a peak of more than 9% last year, but a recent surge in oil prices has undermined that process and could compel the Federal Reserve to act again to tame inflation, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
“This scenario underscores the delicate balance between energy costs, inflationary pressures, and the central bank’s monetary policy actions, which can have profound implications for the broader economic landscape,” he said.
Still, traders overwhelmingly expect next week’s meeting for the Federal Reserve to end with interest rates staying where they are.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 lost 0.6% to 4,461.90. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%, to 34,645.99 The Nasdaq composite dropped 1% to 13,773.61.
Software giant Oracle helped lead the losses for tech stocks after reporting its revenue for the latest quarter fell just short of what analysts expected. Its stock tumbled 13.5%, even though its profit topped expectations. Oracle’s forecast for how much revenue it will make in the current quarter also wasn’t as strong as some analysts expected.
Apple dropped 1.8% after it unveiled the latest models of its phones and other devices. The stock had soared through much of this year, which is crucial for many investors because it has more sway than other stocks on the S&P 500 as Wall Street’s most valuable company. But it’s been struggling since the end of July and has reported three straight quarters where its revenue fell from year-earlier levels.
Alphabet, meanwhile, fell 1.2% as an antitrust trial against Google opened in a federal courthouse. It’s the biggest such trial since regulators took Microsoft to court in 1998. The U.S. government is accusing Google of abusing its position as the world’s dominant search engine and forcing consumers to settle for inferior search results.
In other trading Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude was up 21 cents at $89.05 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped $1.55 on Tuesday.
Brent crude oil, the international pricing standard, picked up 15 cents to $92.21 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 147.28 Japanese yen from 147.08 yen late Tuesday. The euro slipped to $1.0739 from $1.0755.
veryGood! (781)
Related
- Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
- At a French factory, the newest employees come from Ukraine
- Unsafe streets: The dangers facing pedestrians
- Can America’s First Floating Wind Farm Help Open Deeper Water to Clean Energy?
- Most popular books of the week: See what topped USA TODAY's bestselling books list
- You People Don't Want to Miss New Parents Jonah Hill and Olivia Millar's Sweet PDA Moment
- Southwest Airlines' #epicfail takes social media by storm
- Everything to Know About the Vampire Breast Lift, the Sister Treatment to the Vampire Facial
- NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
- Everwood Star Treat Williams’ Final Moments Detailed By Crash Witness Days After Actor’s Death
Ranking
- Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
- Soccer legend Megan Rapinoe announces she will retire after 2023 season
- The overlooked power of Latino consumers
- Biden approves banning TikTok from federal government phones
- New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
- Facing an energy crisis, Germans stock up on candles
- Chevron’s ‘Black Lives Matter’ Tweet Prompts a Debate About Big Oil and Environmental Justice
- NFL 'Sunday Ticket' is headed to YouTube beginning next season
Recommendation
As Trump Enters Office, a Ripe Oil and Gas Target Appears: An Alabama National Forest
Everwood Star Treat Williams’ Final Moments Detailed By Crash Witness Days After Actor’s Death
Global Carbon Emissions Unlikely to Peak Before 2040, IEA’s Energy Outlook Warns
Tori Bowie’s Olympic Teammates Share Their Scary Childbirth Stories After Her Death
Federal Spending Freeze Could Have Widespread Impact on Environment, Emergency Management
AP Macro gets a makeover (Indicator favorite)
Full transcript of Face the Nation, July 9, 2023
How an 11-year-old Iowa superfan got to meet her pop idol, Michael McDonald