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Financial Markets 02/09 09:30
NEW YORK (AP) -- A big rally for global stock markets that began in Asia on
Monday petered out by the time trading got to Wall Street.
The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in morning trading. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average was down 154 points, or 0.3%, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time,
and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher.
The modest moves followed a 3.9% burst higher for Japan's Nikkei 225 to a
record. Stocks rallied there following a landslide victory for the prime
minister's political party in a parliamentary election. The thought is that
will give Sanae Takaichi more power to push through reforms that will boost the
economy and market.
On Wall Street, the U.S. stock market took a pause following its own big
rally on Friday, which was its best day since May. Several concerns still hang
over the market, including criticism that stocks have simply become too
expensive. The S&P 500 remains near its all-time high set last month.
Worries are also heavy about whether all the huge spending by Big Tech and
other companies on AI can produce enough profit to make the investments worth
it.
The majority of stocks fell on Wall Street Monday, but some of the winners
of that rush into AI helped prop up the market. Chip companies rose, for
example, with Nvidia up 3.3% and Broadcom up 1.5%. They were two of the
strongest forces pushing upward on the S&P 500.
Kroger climbed 8.2% after the grocer named a former Walmart executive as its
new chief executive officer.
On the losing end was Hims & Hers, which sank 26.9% after Novo Nordisk filed
a lawsuit and alleged Hims & Hers is unlawfully selling versions of its
weight-loss treatments. Novo Nordisk's stock that trades in the United States
rose 5.8%.
Hims & Hers in turn said, "Big Phama is weaponizing the US judicial system
to limit consumer choice" in a post on the X account for the company's
communications team.
Workday fell 7.5% after the AI platform said its CEO, Carl Eschenbach, is
stepping down. Company Co-founder Aneel Bhusri is returning as chief executive.
Transocean slipped 0.8% after the offshore drilling company said it would
buy Valaris in an all-stock deal valued at $5.8 billion. Valaris leaped 22.5%.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady ahead of several
potentially market-moving reports coming later in the week. The U.S. government
will offer the latest monthly update on the health of the job market on
Wednesday. Friday will bring the latest monthly reading of inflation at the
consumer level.
Either report could sway expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do
with interest rates. The Fed has put its cuts to interest rates on hold, but a
weakening of the job market could push it to resume more quickly. Too-hot
inflation, on the other hand, could keep it on hold for longer.
One of the reasons the U.S. stock market remains close to records is the
expectation that the Fed will continue cutting interest rates later this year.
Lower rates can give the economy a boost, though they can also worsen inflation.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury held at 4.22%, where it was late Friday.
Other markets that had whipped through more violent moves over recent weeks
were showing some relative calm.
Gold added 1.5% to climb back above $5,000 per ounce. It's been swinging
sharply after roughly doubling in price over 12 months and ,it has bounced
between $4,500 and nearly $5,600. Silver, whose price has been even wilder,
rose 5.5% Monday.
Bitcoin dipped back toward $69,000 after climbing above $71,000 over the
weekend. It had dropped close to $60,000 last week, more than halfway below its
record set in October.
In stock markets abroad, indexes jumped across Asia with Japan's surge.
South Korea's Kospi leaped 4.1%, while stocks rose 1.8% in Hong Kong and 1.4%
in Shanghai.
The moves were more modest in Europe, where indexes were mixed.
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AP Videojournalist Mayuko Ono and AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach
contributed.
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