BANGKOK (AP) — Stocks rose Thursday, mainly in Asia, as Wall Street’s record rally continued.
Stocks fell in Chinese markets but rose in the rest of the region. U.S. futures were largely unchanged and oil prices fell.
On Wednesday, US stocks continued to rise in a holiday-shortened session after weak reports on the economy kept the door open for possible rate cuts.
US markets are closed on Thursday for Independence Day.
Investors around the world are eager for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, which have been at their highest level for two decades, to slow growth and curb inflation.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.6 percent to 40,815.95, as traders bought shares of automakers and other export-oriented stocks, keeping the benchmark near a 35-year high.
Toyota Motor Corp. rose 1.3% and computer test equipment maker Advantest Corp. rose 2.4%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng recovered from initial losses, rising slightly 0.1% to 17,988.25, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.4% to 2,969.45.
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 1.2%, while chipmaker and market leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. gained 2.7%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1% to 7,815.80, while the Kospi in Seoul rose 0.7% to 2,813.54.
The SET in Bangkok rose 1%.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5% on Wednesday, hitting an all-time high for the second day in a row and the 33rd time this year. The index closed at 5,537.02.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 39,308.00, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.9% to 18,188.30.
Tesla helped give the market another boost, rising a day after report a milder decline in sales for the spring than analysts feared. It was one of the strongest forces pushing the S&P 500 higher, along with NvidiaThe Darling of Wall Street rush into artificial intelligence technology rose 4.6%, bringing the chip company’s year-to-date gain to 159%.
The action was stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields fell after a flurry of weaker-than-expected reports from both the labor market and U.S. service companies. The data was expected to Federal Reserve on track to deliver the rate cuts Wall Street wants later this year.
Activity at companies in the real estate, retail and other U.S. service sectors contracted for the third time in 49 months in June, a report said, beating economists’ forecasts. Perhaps more importantly for Wall Street, the Supply Management Institute report also said prices rose more slowly.
That followed reports earlier that morning about a slowing labor market.
The hope on Wall Street is that the economy will cool just enough to keep the crisis under control. upward pressure on inflationbut not so bad that workers lose their jobs and a recession ensues.
A much more exciting report comes out Friday, when the U.S. government releases a comprehensive look at how many workers employers added to their payrolls in June.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.35% from 4.44% late Tuesday, a notable move for the bond market, with much of the drop following the U.S. services report. It has generally fallen since April on hopes that inflation will ease enough to prompt the Federal Reserve to cut its key interest rate from its highest level in more than two decades.
In other trading, U.S. benchmark crude fell 56 cents to $83.32 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, fell 51 cents to $86.83 a barrel.
The US dollar fell to 161.50 Japanese yen, reflecting expectations that US interest rate cuts could narrow the differential with Japan, where the key lending rate is near zero.
The euro remained unchanged at $1.0787.
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AP Business journalist Stan Choe contributed.