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Asian stocks higher after rally on Wall St
Asian stocks were mostly higher on Monday after U.S. stocks recovered from Wall Street’s worst day since April and ended the week higher.
US futures fell as oil prices advanced.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 added 0.3% to 38,758.96 and the Kospi in Seoul jumped 0.7% to 2,705.87.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7% to 2,705.87 and the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.3% to 3,097.86, while the government reported corporate profits rose 4.3% year-on-year in April.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.2% to 18,576.65.
Taiwan led the advance, with heavy buying of computer chip-related stocks pushing Taiex up 1.3% to a new record. MediaTek, a semiconductor company that provides chips for wireless communications, high-definition television and portable mobile devices, jumped 8.4%.
recorded a more modest gain of 0.5%.
“The robust global semiconductor cycle is positive for Taiwan’s growth prospects,” ANZ’s Raymond Yeung and Bansi Madhavani wrote in a research note. “The global semiconductor cycle is strong thanks to advances in artificial intelligence applications, cloud computing and 5G telecommunications technology,” he said.
On Friday, the S&P 500 gained 0.7% to 5,304.72 and recovered all of its losses from the previous two days. He made a small gain for the week, extending his weekly winning streak to five, and is just shy of the record set on Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose less than 0.1% to 39,069.59 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.1% to 16,920.79, surpassing an all-time high set earlier in the week.
Nvidia rose another 2.6% on Friday, becoming the single biggest force pushing the S&P 500 higher.
This week’s turmoil for stocks came despite another Nvidia explosive profit report, which has soared to become one of Wall Street’s most influential stocks amid the frenzy surrounding artificial intelligence technology. The fervor around AI has driven some stocks to levels that critics called overblown, but Nvidia’s surprising growth and forecasts for more suggest it could continue.
The overall US economy has shown continued strength for US household spending, but the numbers are below the surface may not be so encouraging.
The market received a small boost on Friday from a report showing that overall sentiment among U.S. consumers weakened less in May than preliminary data suggested. Perhaps more importantly, the University of Michigan report also said that US consumers’ expectations for inflation next year rose less in May than previously feared.
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This could help avoid a vicious cycle in which high inflation expectations among U.S. households lead them to behave in ways that only make inflation worse.
Concerns about stubbornly high inflation were behind this week’s difficult trading after the indexes were set records recently. The weakness began after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday released the minutes of your last political meeting. It showed some officials talking about the possibility of raising rates if inflation worsens.
Shares fell further after reports on Thursday indicated that the US economy is stronger than expected. Such strength could really scare Wall Street because it could keep upward pressure on inflation.
This, in turn, could delay a cut in the Federal Reserve’s key interest rate, which is at its highest level in more than 20 years. The Fed is trying to accomplish the difficult task of slowing the economy enough, through high interest rates, to quell high inflation, but not so much that it affects the job market.
Treasury yields rose last week on these concerns, but remained largely flat on Friday following the consumer sentiment report. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.46% from 4.48% on Thursday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, held steady at 4.94%.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil gained 21 cents to $77.93 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. He made 85 cents on Friday.
Brent crude, the international standard, rose 21 cents to $82.05 per barrel.
In foreign exchange trading, the US dollar fell to 156.77 Japanese yen from 156.99 yen.
The euro rose to $1.0851 from $1.0844.