Asian shares rise, buoyed by expectation of more trade pacts after US-Japan tariff deal
Reactions in the stock market have generally been stronger than usual when companies beat or miss their profit targets by a wide margin, according to Julian Emanuel at Evercore.
Other extreme moves have also been roaring underneath the market’s surface, including huge swings for “meme stocks.” Those are stocks where traders are looking to jump in amid online cheerleading and ride it higher, before a halt in momentum leaves some investors holding the bag.
Opendoor Technologies rose 5.7% following a manic stretch where it swung by at least 10%, up or down, in 10 straight days.
Such swings, though, haven’t been showing up in overall market indexes, which have been gliding recently. The S&P 500 hasn’t had a day where it moved by at least 1% in a month.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 4.44 points to 6,363.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 316.38 to 44,693.91, and the Nasdaq composite rose 37.94 to 21,057.96.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady following the latest signals that the U.S. economy seems to be holding up OK despite pressures from tariffs and elsewhere.
One report said that fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, a potential signal of easing layoffs. A separate report from S&P Global suggested growth in U.S. business activity accelerated in July, and the preliminary results easily topped economists’ expectations.
That helped solidify expectations on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady at its next meeting next week, even though Trump has been agitating angrily for cuts. The European Central Bank, which had earlier been cutting its rates, also held steady on Thursday as it waits to see how Trump’s tariffs affect the economy.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note briefly approached 4.44% in the morning before pulling back to 4.40%, where it was late Wednesday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Asia and Europe. Tokyo’s jump of 1.6% and London’s rise of 0.8% were two of the bigger gains.
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AP Writer Teresa Cerojano contributed.
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