Stock market today: Asian shares slip after Wall St slumps despite strong US economic data
abcnews.go.comAsian markets are mostly lower after shares slumped on Wall Street despite better-than-expected reports on the U.S. jobs market and business activity
HONG KONG — Asian markets were mostly lower on Wednesday after shares slumped on Wall Street despite better-than-expected reports on the U.S. jobs market and business activity.
U.S. futures and oil prices were higher.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.3% to 39,981.06. The U.S. dollar was trading at 157.97 yen, down from 158.06.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1% to 19,255.76 and the Shanghai Composite index was nearly unchanged at 3,230.17. Shares of Tencent fell 2.4%, and shares in CATL, the world’s largest battery maker, dropped 1.8%. Both companies were included in a list released by the U.S. Defense Department linking them to China’s military.
In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 1.2% to 2,521.05. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.8% to 8,349.10.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.1% to 5,909.03 after giving up an early gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.4% to 42,528.36, while the Nasdaq composite tumbled 1.9% to 19,489.68.
Stocks dropped under the weight of rising yields in the bond market, which jumped immediately after the release of the encouraging reports on the economy. One said U.S. employers were advertising more job openings at the end of November than economists expected. The other said activity for finance, retail and other services businesses grew much faster in December than expected.
The strong reports are of course good news for workers looking for jobs and for anyone worried about a possible recession that earlier seemed inevitable to pessimists. But such a solid economy could also keep up pressure on inflation, and it could make the Federal
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