TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mostly lower Wednesday on selling of technology shares following a lackluster day on Wall Street.
France’s CAC 40 fell 0.5% in early trading to 8,213.90. The German DAX dipped 0.3% to 24,251.58. Britain’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.6% to 9,487.52.
The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was nearly flat and the Dow gained 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite index lost 0.2%.
In Asian trading, Chinese markets retreated after U.S. President Donald Trump cast doubt on whether or not he will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this month.
“Maybe it won’t happen, maybe it won’t happen,” he said while hosting a lunch for Republican Party senators at the White House.
However, Trump also said he was expecting “to do well” in negotiations with China.
“I’m going to see President Xi in two weeks. … We’re going to meet in South Korea, ” he said. “We’re going to talk about a lot of things they want to discuss.”
Trump is traveling in the next several days to Japan and South Korea, in part, to finalize the terms of investments from those countries as part of an agreement to minimize the tariff rates Trump is charging on foreign goods.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.9% to 25,781.77, while the Shanghai Composite index inched down less than 0.1% to 3,913.76.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 wavered between slight gains and losses a day after its parliament chose Sanae Takaichi to be its first female prime minister.
It closed almost flat at 49,307.79, pulled lower by declines for tech companies like SoftBank Group Corp., whose shares fell nearly 5%.
The government reported that Japan’s exports grew 4.2% in September from a year earlier, boosted by robust shipments to Asia that offset a 13% decline in those destined for the U.S. Auto shipments fell 24% as they were hit hard by Trump’s tariff hikes.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7% to 9,030.00, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.6% to 3,883.68.
Upcoming corporate earnings reports also can provide details on the strength of the U.S. economy at a time when the U.S. government’s shutdown has delayed important economic updates. That’s making the job of the Federal Reserve more difficult, as it tries to decide whether high inflation or the slowing job market is the bigger issue for the economy.
Despite the shutdown, the Commerce Department will release its consumer prices report on Friday, which could help guide the Fed’s interest rate policy. It will be the government’s first data release since the shutdown began on Oct. 1.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 96 cents to $58.20 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 99 cents to $62.31 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar fell to 151.71 Japanese yen from 151.93 yen. The euro fell to $1.1594 from $1.1600.
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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama
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