FILE - A pedestrian walks past the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/J. David Ake, File)
NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks are mostly higher in the early going on Wall Street but trading remained unsteady ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. The S&P 500 was holding on to a gain of 0.2% in the first few minutes of trading Tuesday, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq turned lower and was down 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6%. Best Buy was sharply higher after the Minneapolis consumer electronics chain did better than analysts expected and said a trail-off in stores sales for the year will not be as bad as it had projected earlier. European markets were higher.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
BEIJING (AP) – Major global stock markets advanced Tuesday after Wall Street sank and Chinese anti-virus controls fueled concern about an economic slowdown.
London and Frankfurt opened higher. Shanghai and Tokyo gained, while Wall Street futures were lower. Oil prices gained.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index declined Monday after a Federal Reserve official rattled investors last week by saying already-elevated interest rates might have to go higher than expected to stop surging inflation.
China’s increasing restrictions on millions of people in multiple cities to fight virus outbreaks are adding to concern the world’s second-largest economy might weaken further.
“Fears over China’s COVID situation are putting pressure on the global outlook for demand,” Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a report.
In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London gained 0.8% to 7,434.43. The DAX in Frankfurt added 0.4% to 14,435.27 and the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.3% at 6,652.73.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 future was off 0.1%. That for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off less than 0.1%.
On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% and the Nasdaq composite, dominated by tech stocks, dropped 1.1%.
The Dow edged down 0.1%. It was supported by a 6.3% gain for Walt Disney Co. after the entertainment company announced former CEO Bob Iger would return to the job.
Apple slid 2.2% and Visa fell 2.1%.
Tesla tumbled 6.8%. The electric automaker’s shares are down more than 50% this year on fears CEO Elon Musk will be distracted by his $44 billion purchase of Twitter.
Consumer and energy stocks also declined. Target fell 3% and Exxon Mobil dropped 1.4%.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.1% to 3,088.94 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 0.6% to 28,115.74. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong sank 1.3% to 17,424.41.
The Kospi in Seoul shed 0.6% to 2,405.27 while Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.6% to 7,181.30.
India’s Sensex advanced 0.3% to 61,318.85. New Zealand and Jakarta declined while Singapore advanced.
Concerns about China rose after the major cities of Guangdong and Shijiazhuang ordered millions of residents to stay home and told factory operators to isolate their workforces. Other cities including the capital, Beijing, closed stores and tightened restrictions on movement.
Casino operator Wynn Resorts, which depends on Chinese gamblers visiting the southern territory of Macao for a big share of its revenue, fell 2.2% on Monday. Las Vegas Sands, which also operates casinos in Macao, slid 2.9%.
Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates, slipped to 3.82% from 3.83% late Friday.
U.S. markets close Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and have a shortened trading day Friday.
On Wednesday, the Fed is due to release minutes from its latest meeting. That might give investors more insight into plans to fight inflation that is near a four-decade high.
Traders worry unusually large rate hikes by the Fed and other central banks this year might tip the global economy into recession. They expect the Fed to raise rates again at its December meeting but by one-half percentage point after four hikes of 0.75 percentage points, three times its usual margin.
The president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, James Bullard, dashed hopes the Fed might be easing off rate hike plans. He suggested the U.S. central bank’s key lending rate might need to rise to 5% to 7% before inflation is under control. That would be almost double the current range of 3.75% to 4%, up from close to zero in March.
In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude gained 46 cents to $80.50 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, advanced 56 cents to $88.01 per barrel in London.
The dollar declined to 141.31 yen from Monday’s 142.17 yen. The euro gained to $1.0280 from $1.0240.
