logo
Asian shares mixed after Nvidia nudges Nasdaq to a record

Asian shares mixed after Nvidia nudges Nasdaq to a record

Qatar Tribune6 days ago
Agencies
Shares in Asia traded mixed on Wednesday after an update on U.S. inflation pulled most Wall Street stocks lower, though gains for Nvidia pushed the Nasdaq to another record.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 edged less than 0.1% lower, to 39,663.40. Investors are focusing on the potential impact of an election for the Upper House of Parliament on Sunday that is expected to lead to tax cuts and higher spending as lawmakers try to restore the waning popularity of the ruling Liberal Democrats.
Worries over a deterioration in Japan's fiscal health have pushed yields of long-term Japanese government bonds to their highest levels in years.
'What's at stake isn't simply which party hands out the biggest bundle of goodies. It's whether the walls holding up Japan's house of debt can withstand another round of fiscal fireworks…' Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.1% to 24,618.23 while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.1% to 3,503.78.
South Korea's Kospi lost 0.9% to 3,186.38 and in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.8% to 8,561.80.
Taiwan's Taiex jumped 0.9% and India's Sensex was flat. Thailand's SET also was little changed.
In Jakarta, shares rose 0.4% after President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he plans to tariff imports from Indonesia at 19%, while American goods sent to the Southeast Asian country will face no tariffs. Trump also said Indonesia committed to buying U.S. energy, agricultural products and aircraft.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 6,243.76, but stayed near its all-time high set last week, as 90% of the stocks within the index fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1% to 44,023.29.The Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to a record 20,677.80 thanks to Nvidia, the market's most influential stock.
Nvidia said the U.S. government has assured it that licenses will be granted for its H20 chip, used for artificial intelligence, again and that deliveries will hopefully begin soon. Its 4% gain was by far the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500.
Stocks of big U.S. banks were mixed following their latest profit reports. JPMorgan Chase slipped 0.7% despite reporting a stronger profit than analysts expected, as CEO Jamie Dimon warned of risks to the economy because of tariffs and other concerns.
Citigroup rose 3.7% following its better-than-expected profit report. But Wells Fargo fell 5.5% following its own, as it trimmed its forecast for an important way that it makes money.
A report showed inflation in the United States accelerated to 2.7% last month from 2.4% in May as prices rose for clothes, toys and other goods that usually are imported. Economists say prices may be rising because of stiff tariffs that President Donald Trump has proposed on other countries.
Treasury yields yo-yoed after the report and then began rising.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.48% from 4.43% late Monday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with short-term interest rates, rose to 3.95% from 3.90%.
Higher inflation could inhibit interest rate cuts by the Fed. It has been keeping rates on hold this year after cutting them at the end of last year.
That's because lower rates can give inflation more fuel, along with a boost for the economy. Wall Street loves lower rates because they goose prices higher for stocks and other investments, and Trump himself has been clamoring for the Fed to cut more quickly.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell, though, has been adamant that he wants to wait for more data about how tariffs affect the economy and inflation. Following Tuesday's inflation report, traders are still overwhelmingly betting that the Fed will cut its main interest rate by the end of the year.
But they pulled back their bets on the number of potential cuts, according to data from CME Group.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

How tariffs are shaping US year-end holiday shopping season
How tariffs are shaping US year-end holiday shopping season

Qatar Tribune

time2 hours ago

  • Qatar Tribune

How tariffs are shaping US year-end holiday shopping season

Agencies With summer in full swing in the United States, retail executives are sweating a different season. It's less than 22 weeks before Christmas, a time when businesses that make and sell consumer goods usually nail down their holiday orders and prices. But President Donald Trump's vacillating trade policies, part of his effort to revive the nation's diminished manufacturing base and to reduce the U.S. deficit in exported goods, have complicated those end-of-year plans. Balsam Hill, which sells artificial trees and other decorations online, expects to publish fewer and thinner holiday catalogs because the featured products keep changing with the tariff — import tax — rates the president sets, postpones and revises. 'The uncertainty has led us to spend all our time trying to rejigger what we're ordering, where we're bringing it in, when it's going to get here,' Mac Harman, CEO of Balsam Hill parent company Balsam Brands, said. 'We don't know which items we're going to have to put in the catalog or not.' Months of confusion over which foreign countries' products may become more expensive to import has left a question mark over the holiday shopping season. U.S. retailers often begin planning for the winter holidays in January and typically finalize the bulk of their orders by the end of June. The seesawing tariffs already have factored into their calculations. The consequences for consumers? Stores may not have the specific gift items customers want come November and December. Some retail suppliers and buyers scaled back their holiday lines rather than risking a hefty tax bill or expensive imports going unsold. Businesses still are setting prices but say shoppers can expect many things to cost more, though by how much depends partly on whether Trump's latest round of 'reciprocal' tariffs kicks in next month. The lack of clarity has been especially disruptive for the U.S. toy industry, which sources nearly 80% of its products from China. American toy makers usually ramp up production in April, a process delayed until late May this year after the president put a 145% tariff on Chinese goods, according to Greg Ahearn, president and CEO of the Toy Association, an industry trade group. The U.S. tariff rate may have dropped significantly from its spring high — a truce in the U.S.-China trade war is set to expire on Aug. 12 — but continues to shape the forthcoming holiday period. Manufacturing activity is way down from a year ago for small- and medium-sized U.S. toy companies, Ahearn said. The late start to factory work in China means holiday toys are only now arriving at U.S. warehouses, industry experts said. A big unknown is whether tariffs will keep stores from replenishing supplies of any breakout hit toys that emerge in September, said James Zahn, editor-in-chief of the trade publication Toy Book. In the retail world, planning for Christmas in July usually involves mapping out seasonal marketing and promotion strategies. Dean Smith, who co-owns independent toy stores JaZams in Princeton, New Jersey, and Lahaska, Pennsylvania, said he recently spent an hour and a half running through pricing scenarios with a Canadian distributor because the wholesale cost of some products increased by 20%. Increasing his own prices that much might turn off customers, Smith said, so he explored ways to 'maintain a reasonable margin without raising prices beyond what consumers would accept.' He ordered a lower cost Crazy Forts building set so he would have the toy on hand and left out the kids' edition of the Anomia card game because he didn't think customers would pay what he would have to charge. 'In the end, I had to eliminate half of the products that I normally buy,' Smith said. Hilary Key, owner of The Toy Chest in Nashville, Indiana, said she tries to get new games and toys in early most years to see which ones she should stock up on for the winter holidays. This year, she abandoned her product testing for fear any delayed orders would incur high import taxes. Meanwhile, vendors of toys made in China and elsewhere bombarded Key with price increase notices. For example, Schylling, which makes Needoh, Care Bear collectibles and modern versions of nostalgic toys like My Little Pony, increased prices on orders by 20%, according to Key. All the price hikes are subject to change if the tariff situation changes again. Key worries her store won't have as compelling a product assortment as she prides herself on carrying. 'My concern is not that I'll have nothing, because I can bring in more books. I can bring in more gifts, or I can bring in just things that are manufactured in other places,' she said. 'But that doesn't mean I'm going to have the best stock for every developmental age, for every special need.' The retail industry may have to keep taking a whack-a-mole approach to navigating the White House's latest tariff ultimatums and temporary reprieves. Last week, the president again reset the rates on imports from Brazil, the European Union, Mexico, and other major trading partners but said they would not take effect until Aug. 1. The brief pause should extend the window importers have to bring in seasonal merchandise at the current baseline tariff of 10%. The Port of Los Angeles had the busiest June in its 117-year history after companies raced to secure holiday shipments, and July imports look strong so far.

GM profit falls in Q2, Trump tariffs take $1.1 bn bite out of earnings
GM profit falls in Q2, Trump tariffs take $1.1 bn bite out of earnings

Qatar Tribune

time2 hours ago

  • Qatar Tribune

GM profit falls in Q2, Trump tariffs take $1.1 bn bite out of earnings

Agencies Core profits of General Motors (GM) fell 32% to $3 billion in the second quarter, the company reported on Tuesday, as the automaker continued to confront challenging tariff policies, which it said took $1.1 billion from the results. The largest U.S. automaker by sales said it expects the tariff impact to worsen in the third quarter and stuck to a previous estimate that trade headwinds threaten to hit the bottom line by $4 billion to $5 billion. GM said it could take steps to mitigate at least 30% of that impact. The automaker's revenue for the quarter ended June 30 fell nearly 2% to approximately $47 billion from the same period a year ago. Its quarterly adjusted earnings per share fell to $2.53 compared with $3.06 a year earlier. Analysts on average expected adjusted profit of $2.44 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG. Shares fell about 3% in premarket trade. GM was among corporations that revised annual guidance due to the impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs, lowering it to a yearly adjusted core profit of between $10 billion and $12.5 billion. The company stood by that forecast on Tuesday. Beyond tariffs, GM's underlying business in the quarter was solid. Sales in the U.S. market, its main profit center, rose 7%, while the company continued to command strong pricing on its pickup trucks and SUVs. GM swung back to a small profit in China, after losing money there the previous year. Jeep-maker Stellantis warned on Monday that tariffs would significantly impact its results in the second half of 2025, stating that the tariffs cost it approximately 300 million euros. The automaker has taken several steps in recent months to bolster its combustion-engine operations through increased investment in its U.S. factory base, raising questions about its goal of ending the production of gas-powered cars and trucks by 2035. GM announced in June that it would invest $4 billion at three U.S. facilities in Michigan, Kansas and Tennessee, including a plan to move production of the Cadillac Escalade and its two big pickup trucks to Michigan. Automakers are increasingly shifting their focus to bolstering the core lineup of gas trucks and SUVs, as the growth rate of EV sales has slowed. Demand for battery-powered models has already slowed after rapid growth earlier this decade. The trend is intensified by the pending disappearance of government support for the battery-powered models. Sweeping tax and budget legislation approved by Congress will eliminate $7,500 tax credits for buying or leasing new electric vehicles and a $4,000 tax credit for used electric vehicles at the end of September. Trump also signed tax and budget legislation that eliminates fines for failures to meet fuel economy rules, a move that makes it easier to build more gas-powered vehicles.

Trump announces ‘massive' trade deal with Japan
Trump announces ‘massive' trade deal with Japan

Al Jazeera

time2 hours ago

  • Al Jazeera

Trump announces ‘massive' trade deal with Japan

United States President Donald Trump has announced that he has struck a 'massive' trade deal with Japan following months of fraught negotiations. Under the agreement announced on Tuesday, the US will impose a 15 percent tariff on Japanese exports and Japan will invest $550bn in the US, Trump said. 'We just completed a massive Deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. 'Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 Billion Dollars into the United States, which will receive 90% of the Profits. This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs – There has never been anything like it. Perhaps most importantly, Japan will open their Country to Trade including Cars and Trucks, Rice and certain other Agricultural Products, and other things.' More to follow…

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store