Asian shares retreat after Alphabet and AI stocks nudge Wall Street to more records
Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.7% to 41,511.09 after two days of gains following President Donald Trump's announcement of a trade deal that would place a 15% tax on imports from Japan. That's lower than the 25% rate that Trump had earlier said would kick in on Aug. 1.
Data released on Friday showed the inflation rate in Japan's capital Tokyo rose 2.9% year-on-year in July, down from 3.1% in June. Japanese government efforts to moderate inflation are working, though underlying Tokyo price pressures remain elevated, ING Economics said in a commentary. It expects the Bank of Japan to hold interest rates steady at its July 30-31 meeting, but said the central bank would likely raise its forecast for inflation.
In the Chinese markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.1% to 25,383.07 and the Shanghai Composite index slid 0.3% to 3,593.38.
On Thursday, China and the European Union issued a joint call to action on climate change during an otherwise tense bilateral summit in Beijing riven with major disagreements over trade and the war in Ukraine.
Next week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said he will meet with Chinese officials in Stockholm, Sweden, to work toward a deal with Beijing ahead of a tariff truce that expires on Aug. 12. Trump has said a China trip 'is not too distant' as trade tensions ease.
'One big question for markets is whether the tariff ceasefire is extended. We expect that an agreement will be attainable, but, in the interim, markets will watch closely to see if there are adjustments to current tariff rates in either direction,' ING Economics said.
In South Korea, the Kospi picked up 0.3% to 3,199.91, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4% to 8,673.80.
Taiwan's Taiex dropped 0.1% and in India, the Sensex fell 0.1%.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 added 0.1% to its all-time high set the day before, closing at 6,363.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7% to 44,693.91, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to a record 21,057.96.
Alphabet climbed 1% after the company behind Google and YouTube delivered a fatter profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It's leaning more into artificial-intelligence technology and said it's increasing its budget for AI chips and other investments this year by $10 billion to $85 billion.
That helped push up other stocks in the AI industry, including a 1.7% rise for Nvidia. The chip company was the strongest single force lifting the S&P 500 because it's the largest on Wall Street in terms of value.
But an 8.2% drop for Tesla kept the market in check. Elon Musk's electric-vehicle company reported results for the spring that were roughly in line with or above analysts' expectations, and Musk is trying to highlight Tesla's moves into AI and robotaxis.
The focus, though, remains on how Musk's foray into politics is turning off potential customers, and he said several rough quarters may be ahead as 'we're in this weird transition period where we'll lose a lot of incentives in the U.S.'
Stocks have broadly been rallying for weeks on hopes that President Donald Trump will reach trade deals with other countries that will lower his stiff proposed tariffs, along with the risk that they could cause a recession and drive up inflation.
In other dealings on Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil added 13 cents to $66.16 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 12 cents to $68.48 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar edged higher to 147.21 Japanese yen from 147.00. The euro fell to $1.1737 from $1.1748. ___
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