TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mixed Tuesday following a Big Tech rally on Wall Street, as investors awaited an update on U.S. consumer prices set for later in the week.
France’s CAC 40 slid 0.1% in early trading to 7,270.28, while Germany’s DAX shed 0.4% to 15,737.20. But Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.4% to 7,528.80. The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.2% and that for the S&P 500 was off 0.3%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 surged 1.0% to finish at 32,776.37. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 7,206.90. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.8% to 2,536.58. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.4% to 18,025.89, while the Shanghai Composite fell nearly 0.2% to 3,137.06.
The Federal Reserve is weighing whether to keep raising interest rates steady in its effort to get inflation back to 2%. On Wednesday, the U.S. government will offer the latest monthly update on prices consumers are paying across the economy, and the forecast is they were 3.6% higher in August than a year earlier.
“Upcoming U.S. data will be crucial leading up to the Federal Reserve’s decision next week,” Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a commentary.
The Fed has already hiked its main interest rate to the highest level in more than two decades, and it has said it will make upcoming moves based on how inflation and other parts of the economy perform. Inflation has come down from last year’s peak above 9%, but economists warn the last bit of improvement to get to the Fed’s target could be the most difficult to achieve.
A separate report on Thursday will also show how much U.S. households spent at retailers last month. Strong spending there has helped the economy avoid a long-predicted recession. But it also could encourage companies to keep trying to raise prices, pushing upward on inflation.
Most traders expect the Federal Reserve to leave rates where they are at its meeting next week, according to data from CME Group. But many are bracing for another possible hike by the end of this year, while paring expectations for cuts to rates next year.
On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.7% and the Dow industrials 0.3%. The Nasdaq composite climbed 1.1%.
In other trading Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude gained 54 cents to $87.83 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 42 cents to $91.06 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar edged up to 146.76 Japanese yen from 146.55 yen. The euro cost $1.0719, down from $1.0756.
