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World Shares Mostly Gain Friday 08/28 04:45
Shares were mostly higher Friday in Europe and Asia after Nvidia and other
technology stocks led an advance on Wall Street.
BANGKOK (AP) -- Shares were mostly higher Friday in Europe and Asia after
Nvidia and other technology stocks led an advance on Wall Street.
In early European trading, Germany's DAX rose 0.6% to 26,523.10, while the
CAC 40 in Paris climbed 1.1% to 8,408.72. Britain's FTSE 100 edged 0.2% higher,
to 10,815.07.
The future for the S&P 500 slipped 0.1% while that for the Dow Jones
Industrial Average was up 0.2%.
South Korea's Kospi was the biggest decliner, falling 1.8% to 6,788.88.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 climbed 0.4% to 66,405.56, while Hong Kong's Hang
Seng added 0.2% to 25,584.79.
The Shanghai Composite index shed 0.1% to 3,952.18.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.6% to 9,092.30.
Taiwan's Taiex surged 0.8%, while the Sensex in India gained 0.2%.
The next big event for markets will be a speech later Friday by the chairman
of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh. Despite pressure to provide guidance on
U.S. policy, he has sought to give financial markets fewer clues about how the
Fed intends to control inflation.
One wild card for inflation has been oil prices, which have been swinging
with uncertainty about the war in Iran and when oil tankers will be allowed to
freely navigate the Strait of Hormuz again.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, slipped
0.4% early Friday to $88.13. It rose 1.8% on Thursday.
U.S. benchmark crude oil fell 0.6% to $83.08 per barrel.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.7% and pulled closer to its all-time high
set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2%, and the
Nasdaq composite climbed 1.6%.
Nvidia was the strongest force pulling the market higher. The chip giant
rallied 8.7% after once again delivering stronger profit and revenue for the
latest quarter than analysts expected. It also gave forecasts for upcoming
revenue growth that topped analysts' estimates, suggesting demand remains
strong for chips to power artificial intelligence projects.
"AI has reached its inflection point," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said. "It's
doing useful work. Its tokens are productive and profitable."
That helped calm some of the worries that have built around AI stocks
generally, which have been under pressure recently. After rocketing higher for
years because of the frenzy around AI, stocks in the industry are confronting
skepticism that they have shot too high and that booming demand for AI chips
may fade if the AI revolution does not produce as much profit as promised.
Another big tech company, Salesforce, jumped 22.6% for its best day in six
years after it said that AI helped it deliver one of its best quarters in
history.
Salesforce, which helps companies manage their customers' data, also raised
its forecast for revenue over the full year and announced an expanded
partnership to pair Anthropic's Claude chatbot with its platform. Salesforce's
stock struggled earlier on worries that competitors powered by AI could
ultimately steal customers from Salesforce and other software companies.
Elsewhere, though, trends were more mixed across big U.S. companies, and the
majority of stocks within the S&P 500 fell.
Best Buy and some other retailers sank amid continued worries that U.S.
shoppers could be stretched because of high inflation and discouragement about
the economy. Best Buy fell 4.4% even though it topped analysts' expectations
for both profit and revenue in the latest quarter.
One potential winner from high inflation could be dollar stores, which could
see higher-income households become new customers as they look for less
expensive places to shop.
Dollar General rose 2.5% after reporting a stronger profit for the latest
quarter than analysts expected. But rival Dollar Tree sank 3.9% despite blowing
past profit expectations.
In the bond market, Treasury yields ticked higher following a report on
unemployment benefit applications suggesting the U.S. job market remains solid.
In other dealings early Friday, the U.S. dollar rose to 159.56 Japanese yen
from 159.39 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1648 from $1.1652.
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