Stock market today: Global markets gain as Chinese shares are lifted by pledge of help for markets

[January 14, 2025]  By YURI KAGEYAMA

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mixed Tuesday, echoing trading on Wall Street, where gains for oil and gas producers helped offset drops for Nvidia and other Big Tech companies.

France's CAC 40 rose nearly 1.0% in early trading to 7,478.96, while Germany's DAX rose 0.6% to 20,263.87. Britain's FTSE 100 was nearly flat at 8,227.05. The future for the S&P 500 rose 0.5% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3%.

In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 1.8% to finish at 38,474.30 following a holiday on Monday.

Japan’s Finance Ministry reported that the surplus in the current account, a measure of the country’s foreign exchanges in goods, services and investments, rose to 3.4 trillion yen ($21 billion) in November, up 54.5% from the same month the previous year.

Shares of U.S. Steel rallied 6.1% overnight after the Biden administration pushed back to June the deadline it imposed for the Pittsburgh-based company to unwind its proposed acquisition by Japan’s Nippon Steel. Nippon Steel Corp. stocks declined 1.1% in Tokyo trading.

“After a holiday break, Japan’s markets are playing catch-up following last week’s market selloff,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.8% to 19,219.78, while the Shanghai Composite surged 2.5% to 3,240.94. The smaller market in Shenzhen jumped 4.2%.

Markets were lifted by a pledge by the China Securities Regulatory Commission to make every effort to sustain a stable recovery of the securities market, as it outlined key priorities for 2025.

People walk in front of Tokyo Stock Exchange building in Tokyo, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5% to 8,231.00. South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.3% to 2,497.40.

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% after erasing an earlier fall of 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 358 points, or 0.9%, while declines for Big Tech stocks dragged the Nasdaq composite to a loss of 0.4%.

Stocks have been under pressure the last month, as traders reduce expectations for how much relief the Federal Reserve may deliver this year through lower interest rates.

Such cuts would give the economy a boost, and the U.S. stock market ran to repeated records last year on the assumption that more are coming after the Fed began lowering rates in September. But inflation has remained above the Fed’s 2% target, and recent reports have suggested a still-solid U.S. economy doesn’t need much help. Questions are growing about whether the Fed will deliver even a single cut in 2025.

In other dealings early Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude lost 10 cents to $78.72 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 23 cents to $80.78 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar edged up to 157.70 Japanese yen from 157.48 yen. The euro cost $1.0266, down from $1.0245.

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