LDN - Business

Stock market today: World stocks are mixed after Wall Street's post-election bonanza wanes

[November 15, 2024] By ZIMO ZHONG

HONG KONG (AP) — European shares opened lower while Asian stocks were mixed on Friday after U.S. stocks slipped as the market’s big rally following Trump's election victory cooled further.

Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 0.4% to 8,038.17 after data from the Office for National Statistics showed economic growth slowed to 0.1% in the July-September quarter from the 0.5% in the previous quarter. It was below analysts' estimates.

Germany’s DAX dropped 0.6% to 19,148.74. In Paris, the CAC 40 was down 0.8% at 7,252.69.

The future for the S&P 500 was 0.8% lower and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index gained 0.3% to 38,642.91. The yen has been weakening against the U.S. dollar, boosting share prices for exporter like Nissan Motor Co., whose shares jumped 4.5% on Friday.

Japan’s economy grew at a 0.9% annual pace in the July-September quarter, higher than the 0.5% increase in the previous quarter, even as the Bank of Japan raised its key interest rate to 0.25% from 0.1% in July. The BOJ said during its October meeting that it plans to continue increasing rates, with a potential target of 1% in the second half of the next fiscal year, which begins in April, if economic activity and prices develop as expected.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 0.1% to 19,426.34 and the Shanghai Composite index dropped 1.5% to 3,330.73 after a report from the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday showed the nation’s retail sales rose 4.8% year-on-year in October, beating forecasts. But industrial output slowed from the previous month and improvements in the property industry were marginal.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.7% to 8,285.20, while South Korea’s Kospi edged 0.1% lower, to 2,416.86.

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A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.6% but remains near its all-time high set on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.5% and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.6%.

Some of the stocks that got the biggest bump from Trump’s election lost momentum. Tesla fell 5.8% for just its second loss since Election Day. It’s run by Elon Musk, who has become a close Trump ally.

Smaller stocks also fell harder than the rest of the market, and the Russell 2000 index of small stocks lost 1.4%. It’s a turnaround from the election’s immediate aftermath, when the thought was that an “America First” president would benefit domestically focused companies more than big multinationals that could be hurt by tariffs and trade wars.

A report showed prices paid at the U.S. wholesale level were 2.4% higher in October from a year earlier. That was an acceleration from September’s 1.9% wholesale inflation rate and a bigger jump than economists had expected.

A separate report, meanwhile, suggested the U.S. job market remains solid. Fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week in the latest signal that layoffs aren’t taking off.

In other dealings early Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 98 cents to $67.72 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, the international standard, gave up $1 to $71.56 per barrel.

The dollar fell to 155.51 Japanese yen from 156.23 yen. The euro edged up to $1.0568 from $1.0534.

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