Stock market today: Global shares are mostly lower after gains on Wall Street

Stock market today: Global shares are mostly lower after gains on Wall Street

Global stocks are mostly lower after benchmarks ended higher on Wall Street

ByZIMO ZHONG Associated Press

July 2, 2024, 3:16 AM

HONG KONG -- World stocks were mostly lower on Tuesday after stocks advanced on Wall Street and yields jumped in the U.S. bond market as election-related issues swayed markets worldwide.

The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3% and that for the S&P 500 slipped 0.4%. The Japanese yen fell to near a fresh 38-year low, reaching 161.67 yen to the dollar early Tuesday.

European stocks opened lower ahead of key data on the region's core inflation rate, due out later in the day. Germany’s DAX lost 0.7% to 18,169.98. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.4% to 8,130.62.

France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.6% in early trading to 7,519.67. The benchmark jumped as much as 2.8% before settling to a gain of 1.1% on Monday as results from France suggested a far-right political party may not win a decisive majority in the country’s legislative elections.

That raised the possibility of gridlock in the French government, which would prevent a worst-case scenario where a far-right with a clear majority could push policies that would greatly increase the French government’s debt.

This is a big year for elections worldwide, with voters heading to the polls in the United Kingdom later this week and soon elsewhere. In the United States, pollsters are measuring the fallout from last week’s debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

In Asia, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 added 1.1% to 40,074.69 as the weaker yen spurred buying of export-oriented shares.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4% to 7,718.20 and South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.8% to 2,780.86 despite data from Statistics Korea showing the country’s consumer inflation slowed to an 11-month low in June.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.3% to 17,769.14 and the Shanghai Composite index edged up 0.1% to 2,997.01.

Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.6%, while the SET in Bangkok slipped 0.5%.

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.8%.

Investors were eyeing the potential impact from a Supreme Court ruling Monday that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, likely extending the delay in a criminal case against Donald Trump until after the November election.

Investors are hoping that inflation will slow enough to convince the Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate later this year, down from the highest level in more than two decades. High rates have been grinding on the U.S. economy by making it more expensive to borrow money for a house, car or anything else.

A report on Monday showed U.S. manufacturing weakened last month by more than economists had expected. Perhaps even more importantly for Wall Street, the report from the Institute for Supply Management also said price increases are slowing.

In other dealings, benchmark U.S. crude rose 51 cents to $83.89 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, added 43 cents to $87.03 per barrel.

The euro cost $1.0719, down from $1.0738.