LDN - Business

Stock market today: World shares are mostly lower ahead of key US inflation data

[December 20, 2024] By ZIMO ZHONG

HONG KONG (AP) — Global shares were mostly lower Friday as markets awaited U.S. personal spending data for November that are due later in the day.

Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 0.3% to 8,078.21 and the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.9% to 7,226.70. Germany’s DAX was 0.9% lower to 19,780.63.

The future for the S&P 500 slipped 0.4% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.2% lower.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.3% to 38,701.90 after the release of November inflation data on Friday. Japan's core inflation rate, which excludes fresh food prices, rose 2.7% year-on-year, surpassing expectations.

The data followed the Bank of Japan's decision on Thursday to keep its benchmark rate at 0.25%, which pushed the dollar higher against the Japanese yen.

The dollar was trading at 156.86 yen on Friday, down from 157.43 yen but still higher than the average of 150 yen earlier this month.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.2% to 19,720.70 while the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% lower to 3,368.07 after China’s central bank kept its loan prime rates unchanged on Friday. The one-year lending rate, which affects corporate and most household loans, remained at 3.1%, while the five-year rate, used as a benchmark for mortgage rates, stayed at 3.6%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 1.2% to 8,067.00. South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.3% to 2,404.15.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 edged 0.1% lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose less than 0.1%, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1%.

This week’s struggles have taken some of the enthusiasm out of the market, which critics had been warning was overly buoyant and would need everything to go correctly for it to justify its high prices. But indexes remain near their records, and the S&P 500 is still on track for one of its best years of the millennium with a gain of 23%.

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A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Traders are now expecting the Federal Reserve to deliver just one or maybe two cuts to interest rates next year, according to data from CME Group. Some are even betting on none. A month ago, the majority saw at least two cuts in 2025 as a safe bet.

Wall Street loves lower interest rates because they give the economy a boost and goose prices for investments, but they can also provide fuel for inflation.

Treasury yields were mixed a day after shooting higher on expectations that the Fed would deliver fewer cuts to rates in 2025. Reports on the U.S. economy came in mixed.

One showed the overall economy grew at a 3.1% annualized rate during the summer, faster than earlier thought. The economy has remained remarkably resilient even though the Fed held its main interest rate at a two-decade high for a while before beginning to cut them in September.

A separate report showed fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, an indication that the job market also remains solid. But a third report said manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region is unexpectedly contracting again despite economists’ expectations for growth.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.57% from 4.52% late Wednesday and from less than 4.20% earlier this month.

But the two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for action by the Fed in the near term, eased back to 4.31% from 4.35%.

In other dealings, U.S. benchmark crude oil gave up 57 cents to $68.81 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 60 cents to $72.28 per barrel.

The euro rose to $1.0380 from $1.0367.

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