LDN - Business

Stock market today: Global shares are mostly higher after tech-fueled gains on Wall Street

[March 24, 2025] By JIANG JUNZHE

HONG KONG (AP) — Global shares were mostly higher on Monday after gains in technology stocks snapped Wall Street’s four-week losing streak.

European markets opened higher. Britain's FTSE100 added 0.5% to 8,685.74 and the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.5% to 8,080.93.

Germany's DAX advanced 0.7% to 23,051.54 after the country's business activity in private sectors hit a ten-month high, with a smaller-than-expected contraction in manufacturing.

The future for the S&P 500 surged 1%, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 0.7% as investors awaited developments on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Reports suggested that he may narrow his broad approach to focus on countries that run significant trade surpluses with the U.S., including many countries in Asia.

President Donald Trump has set an April 2 deadline to impose more tariffs on trading partners. It follows a series of other deadlines that have been set for tariffs only to be postponed, sometimes at the last minute.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang struck a conciliatory tone during a meeting with business leaders and U.S. Senator Steve Daines, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, who is the first member of Congress to visit Beijing since Trump took office in January.

Relations between the countries “have come to an important juncture,” Li said. “Our two sides need to choose dialogue over confrontation, win-win cooperation over zero-sum competition,” he said, adding that China hoped that the U.S. would work together to promote the steady and sustainable development of the China-U.S. relations.

The meeting also involved the leaders of several American businesses, including FedEx Corp. CEO Raj Subramaniam, Boeing Co.’s senior vice president Brendan Nelson, Qualcomm’s CEO Cristiano Amon and Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla.

“In recent days, Trump administration officials have signaled that the list of affected countries may not be universal, and existing tariffs — such as those on steel — may not necessarily be cumulative,” Junrong Yeap of IG said in a commentary, adding that , “optimism has surfaced that Trump’s tariff plans may once again be more bark than bite.”

Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.4% to 23,787.71, and the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2% to 3,370.03.

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The display board with the Dax curve in the trading hall of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Arne Dedert/dpa/dpa via AP)

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 edged 0.2% lower to 37,608.49 after a preliminary report on manufacturing showed output falling at its fastest pace in a year, while new orders fell more quickly.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1%, closing at 7,936.90, while Korea's Kospi lost 0.4% to 2,632.07.

On Friday, the S&P 500 edged up 0.1%, gaining 0.5% for the week. But it was still down 4.8% so far this month.

The Dow industrials eked out a 0.1%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.5%.

Technology stocks bounced back to offset a big share of the declines elsewhere in the S&P 500. The sector has been at the center of much of the market's recent sell-off in a reversal from their market-driving gains throughout the previous year.

Stocks have been losing ground for weeks over uncertainty about the direction of the U.S. economy. A trade war between the U.S. and its key trading partners threatens to worsen inflation and hurt both consumers and businesses. Inflation remains stubbornly above the Federal Reserve's goal of 2% and tariffs could hurt the central bank's efforts to ease the rate of inflation.

A recent batch of economic reports on home sales, industrial production and unemployment reinforced the view that the economy is holding strong. But other reports on consumer sentiment and retail sales have revealed rising caution from consumers.

Businesses have been warning investors about tariffs, inflation and growing uncertainty about the impact to costs.

In other dealings Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil declined 15 cents to $68.13 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 17 cents to $71.99 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar rose to 149.62 Japanese yen from 149.37 yen. The euro inched up to $1.0840 from $1.0816.

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