Stock market today: Asian shares mostly rise to start a week full of earnings, Fed meeting
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly rose Tuesday, as investors kept their eyes on potentially market-moving reports expected later this week.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.0% to 38,300.49 in afternoon trading, coming back from a national holiday. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% to 7,655.60. South Korea's Kospi added 0.5% to 2,700.82. Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged down 0.2% to 17,709.57, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.2% to 3,105.64.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 16.21 points, or 0.3%, to 5,116.17, coming off its best week since November. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 146.43, or 0.4%, to 38,386.09, and the Nasdaq composite gained 55.18, or 0.3%, to 15,983.08.
About a third of the companies in the S&P 500, including heavyweights Amazon and Apple, will report this week on how much profit they made during the first three months of the year. With roughly half the companies in the index reporting so far, the quarterly results have largely been better than expected.
Solid earnings reports last week helped the S&P 500 rally to its first winning week in four. The companies in the index look on track for a third straight quarter of growth in earnings per share, according to FactSet.
The stock market will need such strength following a shaky April. The S&P 500 fell as much as 5.5% during the month as signals of stubbornly high inflation forced traders to ratchet back expectations for when the Federal Reserve could begin easing interest rates.
After coming into the year forecasting six or more cuts to rates during 2024, traders are now expecting just one, according to data from CME Group.
When the Federal Reserve announces its latest policy decision Wednesday, no one expects it to move its main interest rate, which is at its highest level...