World shares are mixed in quiet trading as traders await cues from the
Fed
[August 19, 2025] By
ELAINE KURTENBACH
BANGKOK (AP) — World shares were mixed on Tuesday after Wall Street held
near its records, with traders awaiting fresh cues about interest rates
from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Germany's DAX gained 0.2% to 24,896.79. In Paris, the CAC 40 advanced
0.5% to 7,924.30. Britain's FTSE edged 0.2% higher to 9,173.55.
The future for the S&P 500 was 0.1% lower while that for the Dow Jones
Industrial Average was barely changed.
In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 0.2% to 43,546.29 as
market heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp. fell 4% after it announced it
was taking a $2 billion stake in U.S. computer chip maker Intel.
Intel gained 5.4% in pre-market trading early Tuesday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng shed 0.2% to 25,122.90, while the Shanghai
Composite index edged less than 0.1% lower, to 3,727.29.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.7% to 8,896.20. In Seoul, the Kospi
gave up 0.8% to 3,151.56.
Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.5% and the Sensex in India was up 0.4%. In
Bangkok, the SET slipped 0.1%.
This week will bring updates from the head of the Federal Reserve and
from some of the biggest U.S. retailers.
On Monday, indexes mostly fell in Europe in their first trading after
Trump’s inconclusive summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir
Putin on Friday about the war in Ukraine. Trump met with Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, but that meeting finished after
U.S. markets were closed.
The S&P 500 barely budged and fell by less than 0.1%. It was its first
loss after it set an all-time high for three consecutive days. The Dow
slipped 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1%.
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 Novo Nordisk’s stock that trades in
the United States rose 3.7% after the Danish company said U.S.
regulators approved its Wegovy drug as part of a treatment for a
liver disease found in many overweight and obese people.
Soho House, a membership club with locations around the world,
jumped 14.9% after announcing a deal where an investor group led by
hotel-operator MCR would pay $9 in cash for its shares.
On Friday, the focus will swing to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which has
been the home in past years of many big policy announcements from
the Fed. There, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will give a speech, and
investors are hoping to hear how his mind has changed about interest
rates since he said last month that he wanted to wait longer before
cutting interest rates.
The Fed’s twin jobs are to keep the job market healthy while also
maintaining a lid on inflation, and helping one can often hurt the
other in the short term. Lower rates can boost the economy by making
it cheaper for U.S. households and businesses to borrow to buy
houses, cars or equipment, for example, but they also risk worsening
inflation.
Inflation updates have been mixed, but traders are expecting the Fed
to cut its main interest rate for the first time this year at its
next meeting in September. The hope is that Powell could give a nod
to that.
In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 47
cents to $62.23 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard,
slipped 51 cents to $66.09 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar fell to 147.66 Japanese yen from 147.88 yen. The
euro rose to $1.1677 from $1.1663.
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