[ad_1]
BANGKOK (AP) – Financial markets were virtually closed Wednesday in Asia after the holidays, after Wall Street ended a stormy trading session with meager earnings.
In Australia, the S & P ASX 200 index rose 0.8% on Wednesday, after ANZ announced a 2% profit increase, which opened the earnings season for the four largest banks in the US. country. The New Zealand benchmark fell 0.6%.
The current trade negotiations in Beijing between the United States and China have not been the subject of concrete progress. With most global markets closed, investors are focusing on a meeting of the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, a late push in purchases led the S & P 500 to an all-time high for the third consecutive trading session after falling below its previous high for most of the day.
Household goods manufacturers, health care inventories, utilities and other sectors helped to turn the market around, offsetting the weaker communications companies.
Google's parent company, Alphabet, led the fall after the search giant announced a slowdown in revenue growth. Retailers and hotel companies also fell.
The latest market swings took place as investors weighed the last batch of corporate earnings reports.
"It's a market that is trying to make its way from having grown almost 18% until last night," said Lindsey Bell, investment strategist at CFRA. "Although the numbers are good, there is still a cautious tone on the market."
The S & P 500 rose 0.1% to 2,945.83, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to 26,592.91.
The Nasdaq, which has a lot of technology companies, dropped 0.8% to 8,095.39. The Russell 2000 stock index of smaller companies fell 0.4% to 1,591.21.
The main indices in Europe have ended mainly on the rise.
Bond prices have gone up. The 10-year US Treasury yield fell to 2.5% to 2.53% Monday night.
The US stock market has peaked this year after a strong comeback after a sharp fall in late 2018. Investors have been more optimistic this year as fears of a global economic recession subsided and that the negotiations between the United States and China have eased. Costly trade war seems to make progress.
The Federal Reserve has done everything to ease market fears this year by signaling that it may not raise interest rates at all in 2019 after seven increases over the previous two years.
Traders will again hear the Fed on Wednesday as central bank decision-makers release a new update on interest rate policy and their views on the US economy.
ENERGY: The benchmark US crude sold 58 cents to $ 63.33 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 0.6% to settle at $ 63.91 a barrel on Tuesday. Brent Brut, the international standard, lost 47 cents to 71.59 dollars a barrel. It added 1.1% to close at $ 72.80 per barrel during the previous session.
CURRENCIES: The dollar climbed to 111.49 Japanese yen, against 111.42 yen on Tuesday night. The euro has strengthened, rising from 1.1215 dollar to 1.1219 dollar.
___
Alex Veiga and Damian J. Troise, editors of AP Business, contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link