Stock market today: With US markets closed, Asian shares slip and European shares gain

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stocks were mostly lower Friday after strong gains in Europe overnight, while U.S. markets were closed for the July Fourth holiday.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose above 41,000 points Friday morning, before falling back from Thursday’s record closing high of 40,913.65 points. U.S. futures edged higher and oil prices fell.

The U.S. government will soon release a full report on the number of workers hired by employers in June. Traders are watching those numbers closely in hopes they will show that the economy is slowing enough to prove that inflation is under control, but not enough to tip it into recession.

That would increase the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates that it has kept at record lows for two decades, easing pressure on the economy by making borrowing less expensive.

The jobs report is expected to show that employers added 190,000 jobs, a solid gain, though down from the 272,000 jobs created in May.

“The upcoming June jobs report will play a crucial role in shaping expectations for near-term rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. Markets are currently pricing in a reasonable probability of two rate cuts this year, compared to the Fed’s median forecast of just one cut in 2024,” Anderson Alves of Activ Trades said in a commentary.

In early Asian trading on Friday, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.2% to 40,843.90 points after the government said rising prices hurt consumer sentiment more than expected in May, with household spending falling 1.8%.

Chinese markets were sharply weaker, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index down 1.1 percent to 17,823.67 and the Shanghai Composite Index down 0.9 percent to 2,929.98. The Shanghai benchmark index is trading near its lowest levels since February.

Seoul’s Kospi jumped 1.3 percent to 2,860.26 after Samsung Electronics forecast its second-quarter operating profit would rise more than 15 times from a year earlier to 10.4 trillion won ($7.52 billion).

As NvidiaTaiwan’s TSMC, Tokyo Electron and other chipmakers Samsung are riding a rebound in the semiconductor industry as applications using artificial intelligence take off.

Elsewhere in the region, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.2% to 7,820.20 points. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.1% and Bangkok’s SET rose 0.2%.

With U.S. markets closed Thursday, attention turned to Britain, where FTSE 100 futures were up 0.2% early Friday as an exit poll and partial results indicated Britain’s Labour Party was headed for a landslide victory in a by-election. parliamentary elections.

The story continues

Britain has endured a turbulent run of years under Conservative rule, leaving many voters pessimistic about the future of their country. Britain’s exit from the European Union, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have battered the economy. Rising poverty and cuts to public services have led to complaints of a “broken Britain.”

The pound rose from $1.2760 to $1.2773 late on Thursday, while the euro rose from $1.0812 to $1.0821.

On Thursday, the FTSE 100 rose 0.9% to 8,241.26 points and the German DAX rose 0.4% to 18,450.48 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.8% to 7,695.78 points.

In a shortened trading session on Wall Street on Wednesday, the S&P 500 index rose 0.5%, setting a new all-time high for the 33rd time this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 0.9%, setting a new all-time high.

In other trading Friday, benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 17 cents to $83.71 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, lost 32 cents to $87.11 a barrel.