Wall St claws back some losses after hitting year low | Economic news

By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer

TOKYO (AP) — Stocks recouped some of their losses on Wednesday after hitting a low for the year a day earlier. The S&P 500 is up 0.6% in the first few minutes of trading, while the Nasdaq Composite is up 0.8% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.3%. Bank of America was among the main gainers, up 3.7% after saying its profits rose 28% in the last quarter from a year earlier, well above Wall Street expectations. US Bancorp. plunged more than 5% after posting disappointing fourth-quarter results. Procter & Gamble rose after beating analysts’ expectations with its own quarterly results.

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Global stocks mostly fell in cautious trading on Wednesday, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 down nearly 3%, after Wall Street stocks fell to a new low for the year.

France’s CAC 40 gained 0.1% to 7,138.95, while Germany’s DAX lost 0.3% to 15,720.91. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1% to 7,556.70. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were down 0.1%.

Tech stocks led the decline Tuesday on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 losing 1.8%. The Nasdaq, which is heavily weighted in technology stocks, slipped 2.6%, while the Dow Jones fell 1.5%. The Russell 2000 Index fell 3.1% to 2,096.23.

Losses in global indices rose this month as rising inflation and the latest surge in the pandemic prompted investors to be cautious.

The Federal Reserve and other central banks are under pressure to rein in inflation after U.S. consumer prices rose last month at their fastest pace in nearly 40 years. At the same time, the US labor market has rebounded, leaving the unemployment rate at a pandemic low of 3.9% last month. This gives the Fed more leeway to contain the unprecedented support it has been providing to the economy since the start of the pandemic.

Higher rates could help stem inflation, but would also signal an end to the conditions that have put markets in “easy mode” for many investors since the start of 2020.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 2.8% to end at 27,467.23, its lowest close since August, on strong sales from major manufacturers like Toyota Motor Corp., which lost 5% .

Sony Corp. plunged 12.8% after news on Tuesday that Microsoft is paying $68.7 billion for Activision Blizzard, maker of Candy Crush and Call of Duty, as it seeks an edge in the fiercely competitive mobile gaming business and virtual reality technology.

The deal will make Microsoft, maker of the Xbox gaming system, one of the biggest video game companies in the world and help it compete with tech rivals like Meta, formerly Facebook, in creating immersive virtual worlds. for work and leisure.

Shares of Japanese video game maker Nintendo Co. fell just 0.2%. Activision Blizzard jumped 25.9% on Tuesday.

In other Asian exchanges, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.0% to 7,332.50. The South Korean Kospi fell 0.8% to 2,842.28. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.1% to 24,127.85, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.3% to 3,558.18.

Market participants are watching the latest earnings releases, with Bank of America, UnitedHealth and United Airlines reporting results on Wednesday. Results from American Airlines, Union Pacific and Netflix are due Thursday.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 72 cents to $85.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It ended Tuesday up 1.9% at $84.83 a barrel, a 7-year high.

Brent, the international standard, rose 59 cents to $88.10 a barrel.

In currency trading, the US dollar fell to 114.48 Japanese yen from 114.61 yen. The euro fell from $1.1327 to $1.1349.

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