Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed ahead of Trump's latest
tariffs
[April 02, 2025] By
YURI KAGEYAMA
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday, with benchmarks
changing little as investors waited to see what U.S. President Donald
Trump will announce about tariffs on what he refers to as “Liberation
Day."
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.3% to 35,725.87.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.1% to 23,176.47, while the Shanghai
Composite edged less than 0.1% lower to 3,346.66.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1% to 7,934.50. South Korea’s Kospi
dipped 0.7% to 2,504.86.
“Amid the uncertainty on tariffs details, risk sentiments were broadly
fragile,” Tan Jing Yi at Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.
Tuesday on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 5,633.07 after roaring
back from an early drop of 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged
less than 0.1% lower, to 41,989.96. The Nasdaq composite added 0.9% to
17,449.89.
Markets have been particularly shaky recently, and momentum has been
swinging not just day to day but hour to hour because of uncertainty
about what Trump will do with tariffs — and by how much they will worsen
inflation and erode growth for economies.
In the bond market, Treasury yields sank after a report said U.S.
manufacturing activity contracted last month, breaking a two-month
streak of growth. A separate report said U.S. employers were advertising
slightly fewer job openings at the end of February than economists
expected.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.16% from 4.23% late Monday
and from roughly 4.80% in January. That’s a significant move for the
bond market, and yields have been falling with worries about a
potentially slowing U.S. economy.
Companies are saying they’re already feeling effects from Trump’s trade
war, even ahead of Wednesday when Trump has promised to roll out a set
of tariffs, or taxes on imports from other countries, that he says will
free the U.S. from a reliance on foreign goods.
The U.S. economy is still growing and the job market has remained
relatively solid even with February’s slightly weaker-than-expected job
openings.
Even if Trump announces less-punishing tariffs than feared on Wednesday,
though, the stop-and-start rollout of his trade strategy may by itself
cause U.S. households and businesses to freeze their spending, which
would damage the economy. Trump has pushed for tariffs in part to bring
manufacturing jobs back to the United States from other countries.
[to top of second column] |
A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei
index at a securities firm in Tokyo, on Jan. 28, 2025. (AP
Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
 All the nervousness in the market
has helped push the price of gold to records, and it briefly topped
$3,175 per ounce Tuesday. That’s up from less than $2,700 at the
start of the year.
On Wall Street, Tesla charged 3.6% higher a day ahead of reporting
how many vehicles it delivered during the first three months of the
year.
Worries have grown about a potential backlash from customers, and
protestors have been swarming Tesla showrooms due to anger about CEO
Elon Musk’s leading the U.S. government’s efforts to cut spending.
Tesla’s stock is still down by roughly a third for the year so far.
PVH jumped 18.2% after the company behind the Calvin Klein and Tommy
Hilfiger brands reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter
than analysts expected. It also said it plans to send $500 million
to shareholders this year through purchases of its own stock.
Newsmax soared another 179% to follow up on its 735% surge from
Monday, which was the first day of trading for the news company’s
stock.
On the losing end of Wall Street was Johnson & Johnson, which
dropped 7.6% after a U.S. bankruptcy court judge denied the
company’s settlement plan related to baby powder containing talc.
It’s the third time the company’s attempt to resolve the baby powder
settlement through bankruptcy has been rejected by courts.
In other dealings early Wednesday, benchmark U.S. crude lost 8 cents
to $71.12 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 9
cents to $74.40.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 149.83 Japanese yen
from 149.62 yen. The euro cost $1.0794, up from $1.0791.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
