Global Markets Today: Asian markets opened on a mixed note Thursday, following Wall Street’s continued rally to record highs driven by Fed rate cut optimism and encouraging inflation data.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.23 per cent in early trade, while the Topix slipped 0.18 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.67 per cent, and the Kosdaq added 0.2 per cent.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged down 0.29 per cent. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was poised for a weaker start, with futures at 25,994 compared with the previous close of 26,200.26.
U.S. stock market today
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended at record highs on Wednesday, driven by a surge in Oracle shares and softer-than-expected inflation data that strengthened expectations of a U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut next week.
Oracle skyrocketed 36 per cent – its biggest single-day jump since 1992 – after highlighting growing demand from AI companies for its cloud services.
The S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to close at a record high of 6,532.04, after earlier climbing as much as 0.7 per cent to a fresh intraday peak of 6,555.97. The Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.03 per cent to finish at 21,886.06, also marking a record close following a new intraday high before retreating in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 220.42 points, or 0.48 per cent, to settle at 45,490.92, weighed down by a drop in Apple shares after its latest iPhone launch underwhelmed investors.
According to CME’s FedWatch tool, traders are fully pricing in at least a 25-basis-point rate cut at next week’s policy meeting, with a 10 per cent probability of a deeper 50-basis-point cut.