How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday, 6/4/2025
[June 05, 2025] By
YURI KAGEYAMA
TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mostly higher Thursday, after Wall
Street’s big recent rally lost some momentum following a pair of
potentially discouraging reports on the American economy.
France's CAC 40 added 0.3% in early trading to 7,826.43, while the
German DAX rose 0.5% to 24,378.64. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.1% to
8,811.29. The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2%.
The future for the S&P 500 gained nearly 0.1%.
In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 0.5% to finish at
37,554.49, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was little changed at 8,538.90.
In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 1.5% to 2,812.05 after the country's
new president and leading liberal politician Lee Jae-myung began his
term, vowing to restart talks with North Korea and beef up a trilateral
partnership with the U.S. and Japan.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.1% to 23,906.97, while the Shanghai
Composite rose 0.21% to 3,384.10.
One report released earlier this week said that activity contracted for
U.S. retailers, finance companies and other businesses in the services
industries last month, when economists were expecting to see growth.
Businesses told the Institute for Supply Management in its survey that
all the uncertainty created by tariffs is making it difficult for them
to forecast and plan.
A second report from ADP suggested U.S. employers outside of the
government hired far fewer workers last month than economists expected.
That could bode ill for Friday’s more comprehensive jobs report coming
from the U.S. Labor Department, which is one of Wall Street’s most
anticipated data releases each month.
So far, the U.S. job market has remained remarkably resilient despite
years of high inflation and now the threat of President Donald Trump’s
high tariffs. But weakness there could undermine the rest of the
economy.
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A dealer walks past near the screens showing the foreign exchange
rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea,
Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
 Following the reports, traders built
up bets that the Federal Reserve will need to cut interest rates
later this year in order to prop up the economy, which in turn
caused the fall for Treasury yields. The weaker-than-expected ADP
report also led Trump to urge Fed Chair Jerome Powell to deliver
cuts to rates more quickly.
“‘Too Late’ Powell must now LOWER THE RATE,” Trump said on his Truth
Social platform. “He is unbelievable!!!”
The Fed has yet to cut interest rates this year after slashing them
through the end of 2024. Part of the reason for the pause is that
the Fed wants to see how much Trump’s tariffs will hurt the economy
and raise inflation. While lower interest rates could boost the
economy, they could also give inflation more fuel.
Investors are hoping for deals that will lower Trump's tariffs. But
nothing is assured. The European Union’s top trade negotiator, Maroš
Šefčovič, met Wednesday with his American counterpart, U.S. Trade
Representative Jamieson Greer, on the sidelines of a meeting of the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In other dealings early Thursday, benchmark U.S. crude fell 14 cents
to $62.71 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, edged
down 4 cents to $64.82 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 143.27 Japanese yen from 142.78 yen. The
euro cost $1.1413, little changed from $1.1418.
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