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Asian shares mostly rose Thursday, as market optimism got a perk from the record highs set on Wall Street.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.4% in morning trading to 39,439.50. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6% to 8,239.10. South Korea's Kospi added 0.3% to 2,601.66.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 2.4% to 21,127.55, after a previous day of wild swings. Earlier in the week, the index dropped more than 9%, recording its worst loss since the global financial crisis of 2008. The Shanghai Composite surged 2.0% to 3,324.61.
After surging on hopes for stimulus to prop up the world’s second-largest economy, Chinese stocks slumped earlier this week on disappointment that more isn’t on the way. One plus was the announcement from China’s Finance Ministry it will hold a briefing Saturday that could provide details on planned government moves.
“There’s still a glimmer of hope that Beijing might swoop in with a fiscal stimulus lifeline in October to reignite growth. In short, the market is hanging in the balance, waiting for the next big move,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.7% to top the all-time high it had set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 431 points, or 1%, to hit its own record, while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.6%.
Leading the way were cruise-ship companies, whose customers stand to benefit from the surprisingly strong U.S. job market. Norwegian Cruise Line steamed 10.9% higher after analysts at Citi upgraded its stock and said data suggests growth for the cruise industry “has real legs” into 2025 and beyond. Carnival rose 7%, and Royal Caribbean Group gained 5.3%.
KinderCare Learning rose 8.9% in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. It has over 2,400 early childhood education centers and before- and after-school sites across the country for kids aged between six weeks and 12 years.
They helped offset a 3.4% slump for Boeing. The aerospace giant withdrew a contract offer that would have given striking workers 30% raises over four years following a break down in labor talks.
Alphabet also kept the market’s gains in check after the heavyweight stock sank 1.5%. The U.S. Department of Justice is considering asking a federal judge to break up its Google business after its search engine was declared an illegal monopoly. A breakup is one of many possible remedies under review.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 40.91 points to 5,792.04. The Dow jumped 431.63 to 42,512.00, and the Nasdaq composite gained 108.70 to 18,291.62.
In the oil market, a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, recovered to rise 34 cents to $73.58 a barrel. It briefly topped $81 early this week. Benchmark U.S. crude gained 34 cents to $76.92 per barrel.
Earlier leaps for oil driven by worries about worsening tensions in the Middle East had helped drag the S&P 500 on Monday to its worst loss in a month.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.07% from 4.01% late Tuesday.
Treasury yields have swung recently, first sharply downward through the spring and summer and then turning upward in the last week or so.
They’ve followed traders’ expectations for what the Federal Reserve is likely to do with overnight interest rates. The central bank has just begun cutting interest rates from a two-decade high, as it widens its focus to include keeping the economy humming instead of just fighting high inflation.
That caused the sharp easing of rates through the summer, but recent reports have shown the U.S. economy remains stronger than expected.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched down to 149.15 Japanese yen from 149.16 yen. The euro cost $1.0943, up from $1.0945.
