Current:Home > FinanceStock market today: Asian stocks track Wall Street gains ahead of central bank meetings -InvestTomorrow
Stock market today: Asian stocks track Wall Street gains ahead of central bank meetings
View
Date:2025-04-28 13:19:10
Asian stocks started the week with gains ahead of central bank policy meetings in the United States and Japan, after a broad rally on Wall Street that capped a tumultuous week.
U.S. futures and oil prices rose.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index surged 2.5% to 38,587.87.
The key focus in Asian markets this week will be the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, where investors widely expect the central bank to raise its key interest rate from its near-zero level to perhaps up to 0.3%.
The U.S. Federal Reserve will wrap up its policy meeting on Wednesday and is expected to keep its benchmark rate unchanged. But it might provide further support for a rate cut in September. This week also will bring U.S. jobs data on Friday.
“In a monumental week for macro watchers, everyone is hoping for calm while bracing for the inevitable storm of volatility,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. “
Since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in March 2022 to counter inflation, he added, “the big market blunder has been prematurely anticipating rate cuts — way too early and far too aggressively. It’s like expecting dessert before finishing the main course.”
The Japanese yen has weakened against the U.S. dollar in anticipation of such a change. Last week, the U.S. dollar was hovering around 154 yen. Early Monday, it was trading at 153.42 yen, down from 153.76 yen.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.8% to 17,331.24 and the Shanghai Composite index was nearly unchanged at 2,892.10 as official data on Saturday showed that industrial profits rose 3.5% in the first half of 2024 compared with last year. That was a glimmer of positive news following recent interest rate cuts and other piecemeal stimulus that followed a top-level policy meeting of the ruling Communist Party earlier this month.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.8% to 7,988.20. In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 1.2%, to 2,765.05.
Elsewhere, Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.7%. The SET in Bangkok was closed for a holiday.
On Friday, the S&P 500 jumped 1.1% to 5,459.10 for its best day in seven weeks after 3M and several other big companies delivered better profits for the spring than analysts expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1.6% to 40,589.34, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 1% to 17,357.88.
The market’s widespread gains included rallies for both Big Tech behemoths and smaller stocks. The Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks climbed 1.7% to bring its gain for the month so far to 10.4%.
Nvidia rose 0.7% to trim its loss for the week to 4.1%. Most of the other members of the small group of tech stocks known as the “Magnificent Seven” also clawed back some of their losses from earlier in the week.
They were under pressure after the latest profit reports from Tesla and Alphabet raised worries that investors had gotten carried away in their frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology and taken Magnificent Seven prices too high.
3M leaped 23% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company behind the Scotch-Brite and Nexcare brands also raised the bottom end of its forecasted range for profit for the full year of 2024.
Market watchers have been hoping for just such a broadening of gains because a market with many stocks rising is seen as healthier than one lifted by just a handful of dominating elites.
Stocks broadly got a boost from Friday’s latest update on inflation, which further cemented investors’ expectations for coming cuts to interest rates.
U.S. consumers paid prices in June that were 2.5% higher than a year earlier, down from May’s inflation rate of 2.6%, the Commerce Department said on Friday. That’s according to the personal consumption expenditures index, which the Federal Reserve pays more attention to than the consumer price index, or CPI.
In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 18 cents to $77.34 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 28 cents to $80.56 per barrel.
The euro rose to $1.0862 from $1.0857.
veryGood! (17617)
Related
- Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
- Want to Help Reduce PFC Emissions? Recycle Those Cans
- Why Patrick Mahomes Says Wife Brittany Has a “Good Sense” on How to Handle Online Haters
- Finally, a Climate Change Silver Lining: More Rainbows
- Meta donates $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund
- Massachusetts Utilities Hope Hydrogen and Biomethane Can Keep the State Cooking, and Heating, With Gas
- House Republicans' CHOICE Act would roll back some Obamacare protections
- 'Hi, Doc!' DM'ing the doctor could cost you (or your insurance plan)
- Don't let hackers fool you with a 'scam
- Keep Cool With the 9 Best Air Conditioner Deals From Amazon Prime Day 2023
Ranking
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- Car Companies Are Now Bundling EVs With Home Solar Panels. Are Customers Going to Buy?
- A Gary, Indiana Plant Would Make Jet Fuel From Trash and Plastic. Residents Are Pushing Back
- Car Companies Are Now Bundling EVs With Home Solar Panels. Are Customers Going to Buy?
- Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
- People and pets seek shade and cool as Europe sizzles under a heat wave
- Delivery drivers are forced to confront the heatwave head on
- Twitter replaces its bird logo with an X as part of Elon Musk's plan for a super app
Recommendation
Tom Holland's New Venture Revealed
These farmworkers thought a new overtime law would help them. Now, they want it gone
Colleen Ballinger's Remaining Miranda Sings Tour Dates Canceled Amid Controversy
Why Author Colleen Hoover Calls It Ends With Us' Popularity Bittersweet
Meta releases AI model to enhance Metaverse experience
A first-class postal economics primer
How climate change could cause a home insurance meltdown
A mom owed nearly $102,000 for her son's stay in a state mental health hospital