Current:Home > InvestStock market today: Asian benchmarks mostly slide as investors focus on earnings -GrowthProspect
Stock market today: Asian benchmarks mostly slide as investors focus on earnings
FinLogic FinLogic Quantitative Think Tank Center View
Date:2025-04-08 14:19:45
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly declined Thursday as investors awaited a flood of global earnings reports, including updates from U.S. tech companies known as the “Magnificent Seven.”
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slid 2.1% to 37,670.50. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.4% to 2,637.18. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained nearly 0.1% to 17,215.51, while the Shanghai Composite was virtually unchanged at 3,044.41.
Trading was closed in Australia for a national holiday, Anzac Day.
Attention is also turning to the Bank of Japan, whose two-day monetary policy meeting started Thursday.
“For the record, heading into tomorrow’s policy decision, exceptional Japanese yen weakness is the agitated elephant in the room for the BOJ,” Tan Jing Yi of Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 155.67 Japanese yen from 155.31 yen. The euro cost $1.0715, up from $1.0697.
The yen has been trading at 155 yen-levels lately, its lowest level in 34 years. That helps Japanese exporters by raising the value of their overseas earnings, but it also raises the price of imports. Speculation has been growing Japan may intervene to prop up the yen.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 was virtually flat and edged up by less than 0.1% to 5,071.63. It had jumped sharply in the first two days of the week to claw back nearly two-thirds of last week’s steep loss.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1% to 38,460.92, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.1%, to 15,712.75.
Tesla jumped 12.1% after saying the night before that it would accelerate production of new, more affordable vehicles, which investors have been hoping will kickstart growth. The announcement helped investors look past the 55% drop in profit that Tesla reported.
Tesla is the first of the group of stocks among the Magnificent Seven to report its results for the start of 2024. The focus is on the small group of stocks because they drove most of the U.S. stock market’s gain last year, and they’ll need to perform to justify their high prices.
Meta Platforms also reported its latest results after trading ended Wednesday. Alphabet and Microsoft will follow it a day later.
The hope is that profit growth will broaden beyond the Magnificent Seven to other types of companies, in large part because a remarkably solid U.S. economy. They’ll likely need to deliver fatter profits if they want their stock prices to rise. That’s because they’re unlikely to get much help from the other lever that can lift stock prices: interest rates.
“A strong earnings season looks likely to help restore market confidence,” according to Solita Marcelli, chief investment officer Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management.
A report Wednesday said orders for machinery, airplanes and other long-lasting manufactured goods were stronger last month than expected. A recent string of such reports has quashed hopes that the Federal Reserve may deliver the three cuts to interest rates this year that it had earlier signaled.
Boeing lost 2.9% despite reporting results that weren’t as bad as analysts feared. The company, which is battling criticism about the safety of its airplanes, said it’s taking steps to improve its manufacturing quality, which has slowed down production.
Teledyne Technologies tumbled 10.9% for one of the market’s largest losses after the seller of digital imaging sensors, cameras and other equipment reported weaker profit and revenue than forecast. It said demand from the industrial automation and test and measurement markets was weaker than it expected.
On the winning side of the market, Hasbro jumped 11.9% after the toy and game company reported better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It benefited from growth delivered by its Baldur Gate 3 and Magic: The Gathering games, as well as by its Peppa Pig content.
Texas Instruments climbed 5.6% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than forecast. Boston Scientific was another one of the stronger forces pushing upward on the S&P 500. It rose 5.7% after topping forecasts for profit and revenue.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 14 cents to $82.95 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 17 cents to $88.19 a barrel.
veryGood! (8)
Related
- Meet first time Grammy nominee Charley Crockett
- Sleek and shiny torch for Paris Olympics unveiled with carbon footprint in mind and a year to go
- Transcript: Gary Cohn on Face the Nation, March 19, 2023
- How Iraq has changed, and how the war changed people, 20 years after the U.S.-led invasion
- Appeals court scraps Nasdaq boardroom diversity rules in latest DEI setback
- Shop These BaubleBar Deals Starting at $4: Rings, Necklaces, Earrings, Bracelets, Hair Clips, and More
- Alex Murdaugh Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murdering Wife and Son
- Lululemon Belt Bag Restock: Shop Before They Sell Out... Again
- Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game
- See How Tom Sandoval Reacted to Tom Schwartz's Previous Joke About Cast Throuple
Ranking
- Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
- Adam Levine Shares Rare Look Into His and Behati Prinsloo's Family Life After Welcoming Baby No. 3
- Pete Davidson and Chase Sui Wonders Involved in Car Accident in Beverly Hills
- Jay Leno Reveals His Brand New Face After Car Fire
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- Former Middle East Envoy Dennis Ross on regional instability — Intelligence Matters
- Today's Craig Melvin Teases Return of Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie Amid Absences
- Shop These BaubleBar Deals Starting at $4: Rings, Necklaces, Earrings, Bracelets, Hair Clips, and More
Recommendation
Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
These Beauty Hacks From the Dancing With the Stars Cast Deserve a Perfect 10
Heather Dubrow Supports Youngest Child Ace After He Comes Out as Transgender
Selena Gomez Proves She’s a “Texas Girl at Heart” With Glimpse Into Family Fishing Trip
Nevada attorney general revives 2020 fake electors case
Return to Amish: Meet the 20-Year-Old Trying to Become the First Amish College Basketball Player
Ray J Calls Off Divorce From Princess Love Again
Return to Amish: Meet the 20-Year-Old Trying to Become the First Amish College Basketball Player