ReportWire

Tag: Financial Markets

  • Asian stocks gain after optimism about AI sends Wall Street higher

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    TOKYO — U.S. futures were flat after President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech, while Asian shares were mostly higher.

    Japan’s benchmark briefly hit a record high as investors were cheered by an overnight Wall Street rally driven by optimism about the artificial-intelligence boom.

    Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 surged 2.2% to 58,583.12.

    Shares also rose in China. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.5% to 26,735.22, while the Shanghai Composite added 0.6% to 4,142.17.

    South Korea’s Kospi surged 2.1% to 6,093.33, as the benchmark continued to benefit from the global demand for computer chips.

    In Taiwan, the Taiex jumped 2.1% as shares in TSMC, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of computer chips, surged 2.5%.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.2% to 9,128.30.

    In his speech, Trump focused on jobs, manufacturing and an economy he says is stronger than many Americans believe. He didn’t dwell on efforts to lower the cost of living — despite polling showing that his handling of the economy and kitchen-table issues has increasingly become a liability.

    The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were nearly unchanged.

    On Tuesday, before the speech, the S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to 6,890.07. The Dow industrials added 0.8% to 49,174.50, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1% to 22,863.68.

    Advanced Micro Devices helped lead the market and rallied 8.8% after announcing a multiyear deal where it will supply chips to Meta Platforms to help power its AI ambitions. Meta also got the right to buy up to 160 million shares of AMD stock for 1 cent each, depending in part on how many chips Meta ultimately buys.

    It’s a reminder of the excitement that built in recent years about the billions of dollars pouring into AI, producing a sharp turnaround from the prior day, when worries about the potential downsides of AI shook Wall Street. IBM rose 2.7% to recover some of its 13.1% drop from Monday, which was its worst since 2000.

    Chipmaking giant Nvidia is due to report its earnings later Wednesday in a quarterly report likely to sway a jittery stock market as investors weigh whether the massive bets riding on technology’s latest craze will pay off.

    As has been the case since Nvidia’s chipsets emerged as AI’s best building blocks, the expectations are sky high for the results covering the company’s fiscal quarter, covering November through January.

    Big U.S. companies have reported mostly better profits for the end of 2025 than analysts expected. Keysight Technologies rallied 23.1% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500, while Home Depot rose 2% after likewise delivering stronger profit and revenue than analysts expected.

    In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady after a report said that confidence among U.S. consumers improved by more than economists expected. The yield on the 10-year Treasury held at 4.03%, where it was late Monday.

    In other dealings early Wednesday, benchmark U.S. crude oil added 48 cents to $66.11 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 48 cents to $71.06 a barrel.

    The U.S. dollar slipped to 155.82 Japanese yen from 155.91 yen. The dollar traded close to 160 yen levels several months ago. The euro cost $1.1803, up from $1.1774.

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    Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

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  • Home Depot tops expectations in the fourth quarter, but customers pull back on spending

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    Home Depot’s fourth-quarter was muted by ongoing caution from American consumers in a weak housing market, but the home improvement retailer topped Wall Street expectations.

    The Atlanta company earned $2.57 billion, or $2.58 per share, for the three months ended Feb. 1. Stripping out one-time charges or benefits, earnings were $2.72 per share, topping analyst projections for per-share earnings of $2.53, according to FactSet.

    A year earlier it earned $3 billion, or $3.02 per share.

    An extra week in fiscal 2024 added approximately 30 cents per share to the year-ago quarter.

    Home Depot’s stock rose more than 3% before the market opened on Tuesday.

    Revenue totaled $38.2 billion, down from $39.7 billion a year earlier. The extra week in the prior-year period added about $2.5 billion of sales.

    Wall Street was looking for revenue of $38.09 billion.

    Sales at stores open at least a year, a key indicator of a retailer’s health, edged up 0.4%. In the U.S., comparable store sales climbed 0.3%.

    Chair and CEO Ted Decker said in a statement that Home Depot’s quarterly results “were largely in-line with our expectations, reflecting the lack of storm activity in the third quarter and ongoing consumer uncertainty and pressure in housing. Adjusting for storms, underlying demand was relatively stable throughout the year.”

    Customer transactions dropped 1.6% in the quarter. The amount shoppers spent rose to $91.28 per average receipt from $89.11 a year earlier.

    Home Depot and other retailers have seen customers cut back on their spending amid concerns about inflation and economic uncertainty.

    U.S. consumer confidence declined sharply in January, hitting the lowest level since 2014 as Americans grow increasingly concerned about their financial prospects.

    The Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index cratered 9.7 points to 84.5 in January, falling below even the lowest readings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    And sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell sharply in January as higher home prices and possibly harsh winter weather kept many prospective homebuyers on the sidelines despite easing mortgage rates.

    Existing home sales sank 8.4% last month from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.91 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s the biggest monthly decline in nearly four years and the slowest annualized sales pace in more than two years.

    The U.S. housing market has been in a slump dating back to 2022, the year mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows that fueled a homebuying frenzy at the start of this decade.

    For fiscal 2026, Home Depot anticipates adjusted earnings to be approximately flat to up 4% from fiscal 2025’s $14.69 per share. The company foresees total sales growth of about 2.5% to 4.5% and comparable sales growth to be approximately flat to up 2%.

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  • US futures fall while Asian markets are mostly higher after the Supreme Court nixes Trump’s tariffs

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    BANGKOK — U.S. futures fell and most Asian markets climbed Monday after the Supreme Court struck down most of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

    Tokyo’s markets were closed for a holiday.

    Hong Kong led regional gains as its Hang Seng index surged 2.2% to 27,003.47. But the Shanghai Composite index lost 1.3% to 4,082.07.

    In South Korea, the Kospi gained 1.1% to 5,873.07.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4% to 9,041.00.

    Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 1.4%.

    The mixed reactions are “highlighting the winners-and-losers effect of shifts in tariff policy that has just delivered a boost to countries who previously had a comparatively bad deal,” Benjamin Picton of Rabobank said in a commentary.

    “U.S. tariff policy will continue to be a source of uncertainty for markets as traders attempt to price in the implications of what is still a movable feast,” he wrote.

    The future for the S&P 500 lost 0.7% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6%. The future for the Nasdaq composite index was down 0.8%.

    On Friday, Wall Street kept calm after the Supreme Court’s ruling against Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which had triggered panic in financial markets when they were announced last year.

    The S&P 500 rose 0.7% to 6,909.51. It had been flipping between small gains and losses before the court’s ruling, following discouraging reports showing slowing growth for the U.S. economy and faster inflation.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5% to 49,625.97. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.9% to 22,886.07.

    Tariffs also aren’t going away, even with the Supreme Court’s ruling. Trump in the afternoon said he would use other avenues to put taxes on imports from other countries after calling the court’s decision terrible.

    “Just so you understand, we have tariffs, we just have them in a different way,” Trump told reporters in an afternoon briefing. He said he would sign an executive order to impose a 10% global tariff under a law that could limit it to 150 days. He later raised that to 15%.

    The president also said he’s exploring other tariffs through other avenues, ones that would require an investigation through the Commerce Department.

    The reaction has been tentative given persisting uncertainties over what Trump will do.

    On Wall Street, Akamai Technologies dropped 14.1% for one of the market’s sharpest losses. The cybersecurity and cloud computing company reported stronger results for the end of 2025 than analysts expected, but it gave a profit forecast for the upcoming year that fell short of estimates.

    Akamai plans to spend a bigger percentage of its revenue this upcoming year on equipment and other investments. It’s the latest potential indicator of how shortages of computer memory created by the AI boom are affecting customers throughout the economy.

    Discouraging reports showing slowing U.S. economic growth and accelerating inflation drew a relatively muted response from investors.

    The reports underscore the tricky situation the Federal Reserve faces as it sets interest rates, but did not change traders’ expectations much for what the Fed will ultimately do. Traders are still betting that the Fed will lower rates at least twice this year, according to data from CME Group.

    Lower interest rates would give the economy and investment prices a boost, but they also risk worsening inflation. Fed officials said at their last meeting that they want to see inflation fall further before they would support cutting rates further.

    In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 53 cents to $65.95 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 51 cents to $70.79 per barrel.

    The U.S. dollar slipped to 154.11 Japanese yen f rom 154.99 yen. The euro rose to $1.1828 from $1.1780.

    The price of gold rose 1.9%, while the price of silver was up 5.5%.

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  • US futures fall while Asian markets are mostly higher after the Supreme Court nixes Trump’s tariffs

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    BANGKOK — U.S. futures fell and most Asian markets climbed Monday after the Supreme Court struck down most of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

    Tokyo’s markets were closed for a holiday.

    Hong Kong led regional gains as its Hang Seng index surged 2.2% to 27,003.47. But the Shanghai Composite index lost 1.3% to 4,082.07.

    In South Korea, the Kospi gained 1.1% to 5,873.07.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4% to 9,041.00.

    Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 1.4%.

    The mixed reactions are “highlighting the winners-and-losers effect of shifts in tariff policy that has just delivered a boost to countries who previously had a comparatively bad deal,” Benjamin Picton of Rabobank said in a commentary.

    “U.S. tariff policy will continue to be a source of uncertainty for markets as traders attempt to price in the implications of what is still a movable feast,” he wrote.

    The future for the S&P 500 lost 0.7% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6%. The future for the Nasdaq composite index was down 0.8%.

    On Friday, Wall Street kept calm after the Supreme Court’s ruling against Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which had triggered panic in financial markets when they were announced last year.

    The S&P 500 rose 0.7% to 6,909.51. It had been flipping between small gains and losses before the court’s ruling, following discouraging reports showing slowing growth for the U.S. economy and faster inflation.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5% to 49,625.97. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.9% to 22,886.07.

    Tariffs also aren’t going away, even with the Supreme Court’s ruling. Trump in the afternoon said he would use other avenues to put taxes on imports from other countries after calling the court’s decision terrible.

    “Just so you understand, we have tariffs, we just have them in a different way,” Trump told reporters in an afternoon briefing. He said he would sign an executive order to impose a 10% global tariff under a law that could limit it to 150 days. He later raised that to 15%.

    The president also said he’s exploring other tariffs through other avenues, ones that would require an investigation through the Commerce Department.

    The reaction has been tentative given persisting uncertainties over what Trump will do.

    On Wall Street, Akamai Technologies dropped 14.1% for one of the market’s sharpest losses. The cybersecurity and cloud computing company reported stronger results for the end of 2025 than analysts expected, but it gave a profit forecast for the upcoming year that fell short of estimates.

    Akamai plans to spend a bigger percentage of its revenue this upcoming year on equipment and other investments. It’s the latest potential indicator of how shortages of computer memory created by the AI boom are affecting customers throughout the economy.

    Discouraging reports showing slowing U.S. economic growth and accelerating inflation drew a relatively muted response from investors.

    The reports underscore the tricky situation the Federal Reserve faces as it sets interest rates, but did not change traders’ expectations much for what the Fed will ultimately do. Traders are still betting that the Fed will lower rates at least twice this year, according to data from CME Group.

    Lower interest rates would give the economy and investment prices a boost, but they also risk worsening inflation. Fed officials said at their last meeting that they want to see inflation fall further before they would support cutting rates further.

    In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 53 cents to $65.95 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 51 cents to $70.79 per barrel.

    The U.S. dollar slipped to 154.11 Japanese yen f rom 154.99 yen. The euro rose to $1.1828 from $1.1780.

    The price of gold rose 1.9%, while the price of silver was up 5.5%.

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  • World shares, US futures advance after AI fears drag Wall Street lower

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    By ELAINE KURTENBACH, AP Business Writer

    BANGKOK (AP) — European shares were higher Friday after a mixed day of trading in Asia, as worries over risks linked to massive investments in artificial intelligence and a potential U.S.-Iran conflict weighed on major benchmarks.

    Germany’s DAX rose 0.2% to 25,103.32 and the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.7% at 8,460.35. Britain’s FTSE 100 picked up 0.4% to 10,672.75.

    The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%.

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  • Shares fall in Japan, while most Asian markets are shut for Lunar New Year

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    TOKYO — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell Tuesday following a U.S. national holiday, while most markets in Asia were closed for Lunar New Year holidays.

    U.S. futures declined and oil prices were mixed. Prices for gold and silver also fell.

    Weak economic data released Monday appeared to be clouding sentiment in Tokyo, and a 5.4% decline for tech giant SoftBank Group also pulled shares lower. The decline follows a big rally after a resounding win for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling party in a Feb. 8 general election.

    The Nikkei 225 was down 0.8% in afternoon trading at 56,363.39.

    Traders likely were locking in profits from the recent gains that took the Nikkei to record levels. Polls show Takaichi’s popularity is slowly slipping, as hopes for economic revival from her plans to increase government spending and cut taxes subside.

    In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.2% to 8,958.90, while India’s Sensex edged 0.4% higher. In Thailand, the SET was up 0.5%.

    European shares ended mixed on Monday and trading in the U.S. was closed for Presidents Day. U.S. markets are set to reopen Tuesday.

    On Friday, the S&P 500 edged up less than 0.1% a day after one of its worst losses since Thanksgiving. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2%.

    Share prices have been waxing and waning with fluctuations in confidence over massive investments in AI. Investors are also focused on inflation and how price pressures might affect interest rates. Also in the spotlight for later in the day are jobs data from Britain.

    In other dealings early Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude rose 48 cents to $63.37 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 42 cents to $68.23 a barrel.

    The U.S. dollar slipped to 152.88 Japanese yen from 153.51 yen. The euro cost $1.1844, down from $1.1852.

    The price of gold fell 2.9% and silver was down 8.2%.

    Bitcoin fell 0.9% to about $68,300.

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    Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

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  • Wendy’s closes US restaurants and focuses on value to turn around falling sales

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    Wendy’s is closing several hundred U.S. restaurants and increasing its focus on value after a weaker-than-expected fourth quarter.

    The Dublin, Ohio-based company said Friday that its global same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, fell 10% in the October-December period. That was worse than the 8.5% drop expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

    U.S. same-store sales fell even further in the fourth quarter. Wendy’s said late last year that it planned to close underperforming U.S. restaurants, but it gave more details about those closures Friday.

    Wendy’s said it already closed 28 restaurants in the fourth quarter and ended 2025 with 5,969 U.S. locations. It expects to close between 5% and 6% of its U.S. restaurants – or 298 to 358 locations – in the first half of this year.

    Those actions come on top of the closure of 240 U.S. Wendy’s locations in 2024. At the time, the 57-year-old chain said many of its locations are simply out of date.

    Like McDonald’s, Taco Bell and other rivals, Wendy’s also plans to emphasize value as it tries to win back inflation-weary customers.

    “One learning from 2025 around value, we swung the pendulum too far towards limited-time price promotions instead of everyday value,” said Ken Cook, Wendy’s interim CEO and chief financial officer, in a conference call with investors.

    In January, Wendy’s introduced a permanent “Biggie Deals” value menu with three price tiers: $4 Biggie Bites, $6 Biggie Bags and an $8 Biggie Bundle. Cook said Wendy’s also has new products coming this year, including a new chicken sandwich.

    Wendy’s said its revenue fell 5.5% in the fourth quarter to $543 million. That was higher than the $537 million analysts had forecast.

    Wendy’s expressed confidence that its U.S. turnaround plans and international growth will help arrest its sales slide this year. The company said it expects global systemwide sales — which includes sales at both company-owned and franchised restaurants — will be flat this year. Systemwide sales fell 3.5% last year.

    Wendy’s shares rose nearly 5% in mid-day trading Friday.

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  • Tokyo benchmark Nikkei 225 jumps after PM Takaichi’s ruling party wins a super majority in election

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    BANGKOK — Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 share index jumped 4.7% on Monday after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s governing party secured a two-thirds supermajority in a parliamentary election.

    Takaichi is expected to pursue market-friendly policies. She told public broadcaster NHK later that she is ready to pursue policies to make Japan strong and prosperous.

    Markets across Asia also advanced, with South Korea’s Kospi surging 4.3% and other benchmarks gaining more than 1%.

    The gains came after the U.S. stock market roared back on Friday as technology stocks recovered much of their losses from earlier in the week and bitcoin halted its plunge.

    The S&P 500 rallied 2% for its best day since May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1,206 points, or 2.5%, and topped the 50,000 level for the first time, while the Nasdaq composite leaped 2.2%.

    The combination of a rebound in tech shares, Wall Street’s rally and other upbeat news lifted shares across Asia.

    NHK, citing results of vote counts, said Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, alone secured 316 seats by early Monday, comfortably surpassing a 261-seat absolute majority in the 465-member lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two-chamber parliament. That marks a record since the party’s foundation in 1955 and surpasses the previous record of 300 seats won in 1986 by late Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.

    Takaichi’s first major task when the lower house reconvenes in mid-February is to work on a budget bill, delayed by the election, to fund economic measures that address rising costs and sluggish wages.

    By late morning, the Nikkei 225 was up 4.7% at 56,788.85, having topped 57,000 earlier in the session to set a new record. The Kospi gained 4.3% to 5,308.84.

    Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 1.5% to 26,963.25 and the Shanghai Composite index rose 1% to 4,106.54. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 2.4%.

    In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.9% to 8,876.50.

    On Friday, computer chip companies helped drive the widespread rally, and Nvidia jumped 7.8% to trim its loss for the week, which came into the day at just over 10%. Broadcom climbed 7.1% and erased its drop for the week.

    But even with Friday’s surge, the S&P 500 still fell to its third losing week in the last four. Apart from worries about spending by Big Tech companies, which are Wall Street’s most influential stocks, concerns about AI potentially stealing customers from software companies also hurt the market. Software stocks got hit particularly hard after AI firm Anthropic released free tools to automate things like legal services.

    Bitcoin, meanwhile, steadied following a weekslong plunge that had sent it more than halfway below its record price set in October. It climbed back above $70,000 after briefly dropping close to $60,000 late Thursday.

    Prices in the metals market also calmed a bit following their own wild swings. Gold rose 1.8% to settle at $4,979.80 per ounce, while silver added 0.2%.

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  • US futures and world shares slip as worries over Trump’s Fed chief pick and AI weigh on markets

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    U.S. futures and world shares skidded on Monday as worries over President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next Federal Reserve chair amplified jitters over a possible bubble in the artificial intelligence boom.

    South Korea’s exchange, which is heavily influenced by tech-related developments, briefly suspended trading as its benchmark Kospi bounced, closing 5.3% lower at 4,949.67. Samsung Electronics gave up 6.3%, while chip maker SK Hynix sank 8.7%.

    The Kospi has been forging records for weeks as big tech companies piggybacked on the AI craze with deals with major players like chip maker Nvidia and OpenAI.

    In early European trading, Germany’s DAX edged less than 0.1% lower to 24,528.57. The CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.2% to 8,108.56, while Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.3% to 10,195.88.

    The future for the S&P 500 sank 0.7%, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%.

    Markets took a hit as investors considered how Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Reserve after Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s term ends in May might handle interest rates.

    Warsh’s nomination requires Senate approval. But financial markets fear the Fed may lose some of its independence because of Trump, who has pushed hard for more and faster rate cuts. That fear has helped catapult skyward the price of gold and weaken the U.S. dollar’s value over the last year.

    “People do not get handed the keys to the most powerful central bank on earth because they plan to drive in the opposite direction of the people who gave them the keys,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

    Early Monday, the price of gold fell 1.9%, while silver bounced back slightly, gaining 0.2%. Both plunged Friday as record runs in precious metals markets ground to a halt.

    On Friday, the price of gold dropped 11.4%, suddenly losing momentum after a tremendous rally where it roughly doubled over 12 months. It topped $5,000 for the first time on Jan. 26 and was around $5,600 at one point on Thursday.

    Silver, which had been on a similar, jaw-dropping tear, plunged 31.4%.

    U.S. benchmark crude oil lost $3.46 to $61.75 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, fell $3.47 to $65.85 per barrel.

    Speaking to reporters during the weekend, Trump said Iran should negotiate a “satisfactory” deal to prevent the Middle Eastern country from getting any nuclear weapons.

    “I don’t know that they will. But they are talking to us. Seriously talking to us,” he said.

    That comment apparently assuaged some worries over potential disruptions to oil supplies that had pushed prices higher, analysts said.

    In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gave up early gains, sinking 1.3% to 52,655.18.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 2.2% to 26,775.57, while the Shanghai Composite index sank 2.5% to 4,015.75.

    In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1% to 8,778.60.

    Taiwan’s Taiex lost 1.4%.

    On Friday, the S&P 500 dropped 0.4% and the Dow lost 0.4%. The Nasdaq composite lost 0.9%.

    The Fed chair has a big influence on the economy and markets worldwide by helping to dictate where the U.S. central bank moves interest rates. That affects prices for all kinds of investments, as the Fed tries to keep the U.S. job market humming without letting inflation get out of control.

    A report released Friday showed U.S. inflation at the wholesale level was hotter last month than economists expected. That could put pressure on the Fed to keep interest rates steady for a while instead of cutting them, as it did late last year.

    The longtime assumption has been that the Fed should operate separately from the rest of Washington so that it can make moves that are painful in the short term but necessary for the long term. To get inflation down to the Fed’s goal of 2%, for example, may require the unpopular choice to keep interest rates high and grind down on the economy for a while.

    In other action early Monday, the dollar fell to 154.88 Japanese yen from 154.94 yen. The euro was unchanged at $1.1853.

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  • Did artificial intelligence really drive layoffs at Amazon and other firms? It can be hard to tell

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    The one thing N. Lee Plumb knows for sure about being laid off from Amazon last week is that it wasn’t a failure to get on board with the company’s artificial intelligence plans.

    Plumb, his team’s head of “AI enablement,” says he was so prolific in his use of Amazon’s new AI coding tool that the company flagged him as one of its top users.

    Many assumed Amazon’s 16,000 corporate layoffs announced last week reflected CEO Andy Jassy’s push to “reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.”

    But like other companies that have tied workforce changes to AI — including Expedia, Pinterest and Dow last week — it can be hard for economists, or individual employees like Plumb, to know if AI is the real reason behind the layoffs or if it’s the message a company wants to tell Wall Street.

    “AI has to drive a return on investment,” said Plumb, who worked at Amazon for eight years. “When you reduce head count, you’ve demonstrated efficiency, you attract more capital, the share price goes up.”

    “So you could potentially have just been bloated in the first place, reduce head count, attribute it to AI, and now you’ve got a value story,” he said.

    Plumb is atypical for an Amazon worker in that he’s also running what he describes as a “long shot” bid for Congress in Texas, on a platform focused on stopping the tech industry’s reliance on work visas to “replace American workers with cheaper foreign labor.”

    But whatever it was that cost Plumb his job, his skepticism about AI-driven job replacement is one shared by many economists.

    “We just don’t know,” said Karan Girotra, a professor of management at Cornell University’s business school. “Not because AI isn’t great, but because it requires a lot of adjustment and most of the gains accrue to individual employees rather than to the organization. People save time and they get their work done earlier.”

    If an employer works faster because of AI, Girotra said it takes time to adjust a company’s management structure in a way that would enable a smaller workforce. He’s not convinced that’s happening at Amazon, which he said is still scaling back from a glut of hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    A report by Goldman Sachs said AI’s overall impact on the labor market remains limited, though some effects might be felt in “specific occupations like marketing, graphic design, customer service, and especially tech.” Those are fields involving tasks that correlate with the strengths of the current crop of generative AI chatbots that can write emails and marketing pitches, produce synthetic images, answer questions and help write code.

    But the bank’s economic research division said in its most recent monthly AI adoption tracker that, since December, “very few employees were affected by corporate layoffs attributed to AI,” though the report was published Jan. 16, before Amazon, Dow and Pinterest announced their layoffs.

    San Francisco-based Pinterest was the most explicit in asserting that AI drove it to cut up to 15% of its workforce. The social media company said it was “making organizational changes to further deliver on our AI-forward strategy, which includes hiring AI-proficient talent. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to say goodbye to some of our team members.”

    Pinterest echoed that message in a regulatory disclosure that said the company was “reallocating resources to AI-focused roles and teams that drive AI adoption and execution.”

    Expedia has voiced a similar message but the 162 tech workers the travel website cut from its Seattle headquarters last week included several AI-specific roles, such as machine-learning scientists.

    Dow’s regulatory disclosures tied its 4,500 layoffs to a new plan “utilizing AI and automation” to increase productivity and improve shareholder returns.

    Amazon’s 16,000 corporate job cuts were part of a broader reduction of employees at the ecommerce giant. At the same time as those cuts, all believed to be office jobs, Amazon said it would cut about 5,000 retail workers, according to notices it sent to state workforce agencies in California, Maryland and Washington, resulting from its decision to close almost all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores.

    That’s on top of a round of 14,000 job cuts in October, bringing the total to well over 30,000 since Jassy first signaled a push for AI-driven organizational changes.

    Like many companies, in technology and otherwise, but particularly those that make and sell AI tools and services, Amazon has been pushing its workforce to find more efficiencies with AI.

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last week that 2026 will be when “AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work.”

    “We’re investing in AI-native tooling so individuals at Meta can get more done, we’re elevating individual contributors, and flattening teams,” he said on an earnings call. “We’re starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person.”

    So far, Meta’s layoffs this year have focused on cutting jobs from its virtual reality and metaverse divisions. Also driving job impacts is the industry shifting resources to AI development, which requires huge spending on computer chips, energy-hungry data centers and talent.

    Jassy told Amazon employees last June to be “curious about AI, educate yourself, attend workshops and take trainings, use and experiment with AI whenever you can, participate in your team’s brainstorms to figure out how to invent for our customers more quickly and expansively, and how to get more done with scrappier teams.”

    Plumb was fully on board with that and said he demonstrated his proficiency in using Amazon’s AI coding tool, Kiro, to “solve massive problems” in the company’s compensation system.

    “If you weren’t using them, your manager would get a report and they would talk to you about using it,” he said. “There were only five people in the entire company that were a higher user of Kiro than I was, or had achieved more milestones.”

    Now he’s shifting gears to his candidacy among a field of Republicans in the Houston area looking to unseat U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw in the March primary.

    Cornell’s Girotra said it’s possible that increasing AI productivity is leading companies to cut middle management, but he said the reality is that those making layoff decisions “just need to cut costs and make it happen. That’s it. I don’t think they care what the reason for that is.”

    Not all companies are signaling AI as a reason for cuts. Home Depot confirmed on Thursday that it was eliminating 800 roles tied to its corporate headquarters in Atlanta, though most of the affected employees worked remotely.

    Home Depot’s spokesman George Lane said that Home Depot’s cuts were not driven by AI or automation but “truly about speed, agility” and serving the needs of its customers and front-line workers.

    And exercise equipment maker Peloton confirmed on Friday that it is reducing its workforce by 11% as part of a broader cost-cutting move under its CEO Peter Stern to pare down operating expenses.

    ——

    AP Retail Writer Anne D’Innocenzio contributed to this report.

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  • Exxon Mobil reports strong quarterly profit on solid production at home and abroad

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    Exxon Mobil’s topped most expectations in the fourth quarter as the energy giant reported solid production in the Permian Basin and Guyana.

    For the three months ended Dec. 31, Exxon earned $6.5 billion, or $1.53 per share. It earned $7.61 billion, or $1.72 per share, a year earlier.

    Excluding one time charges and benefits earnings were $1.71 per share, topping the $1.68 per share that Wall Street was calling for, according to a poll by Zacks Investment Research. Exxon does not adjust its reported results based on one-time events such as asset sales.

    Revenue totaled $82.31 billion, which was below the $83.18 billion that analysts expected.

    Fourth-quarter net production was 5 million oil-equivalent barrels per day. That’s up slightly from 4.7 million oil-equivalent barrels per day in the third quarter. The quarterly performance included 1.8 million oil-equivalent barrels per day in the Permian and Guyana approaching 875,000 gross barrels per day.

    Exxon’s stock dropped more than 2% before the market opened Friday.

    Earlier this month President Donald Trump said that he is “inclined” to keep Exxon Mobil out of Venezuela after its top executive was skeptical about oil investment efforts in the country after the toppling of former President Nicolás Maduro.

    Getting U.S. oil companies to invest in Venezuela and help rebuild the country’s infrastructure is a top priority of the Trump administration after Maduro’s capture.

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  • Meta posts stronger-than-expected Q4 results though costs continue to soar

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    Meta’s fourth-quarter results jumped past Wall Street’s expectations thanks to solid advertising revenue, sending shares higher in after-hours trading Wednesday.

    The company earned $22.77 billion, or $8.88 per share, in the October-December quarter. That’s up 9% from $20.84 billion, or $8.02 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

    Revenue grew 24% to $59.89 billion from $48.39 billion.

    Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $8.21 per share on revenue of $58.5 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

    Meta’s expenses, which the company already warned will be significantly higher this year, grew 40% to $35.15 billion.

    For the current quarter, Meta is forecasting revenue in the range of $53.5 billion to $56.5 billion. That’s above analysts’ forecast of $51.4 billion. For 2026, Meta is forecasting expenses in the range of $162 billion to $169 billion, driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation.

    Meta had 78,865 employees at the end of the year, an increase of 6% from a year earlier.

    Shares of the Menlo Park, California-based company rose $27.28, or 4.1%, to $696.01 in after-hours trading.

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  • How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday, 1/21/2026

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    The U.S. stock market rebounded after President Donald Trump called off Greenland-related tariffs that he had threatened to impose on Europe.

    The S&P 500 rallied 1.2% Wednesday after Trump said he reached the framework of a deal about Greenland, an island he’s long coveted, and won’t impose tariffs he had threatened on several European countries. The index recovered about half the ground it lost a day earlier.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose 1.2%, as did the Nasdaq composite. Treasury yields eased in the bond market. They also got some help from a calming of government bond yields in Japan.

    On Wednesday:

    The S&P 500 rose 78.76 points, or 1.2%, to 6,875.62.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 588.64 points, or 1.2%, to 49,077.23.

    The Nasdaq composite rose 270.50 points, or 1.2%, to 23,224.82.

    The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 52.81 points, or 2%, to 2,698.17.

    For the week:

    The S&P 500 is down 64.39 points, or 0.9%.

    The Dow is down 282.10 points, or 0.6%.

    The Nasdaq is down 290.56 points, or 1.2%.

    The Russell 2000 is up 20.43 points, or 0.8%.

    For the year:

    The S&P 500 is up 30.12 points, or 0.4%.

    The Dow is up 1,013.94 points, or 2.1%.

    The Nasdaq is down 17.17 points, or 0.1%.

    The Russell 2000 is up 216.27 points, or 8.7%.

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  • Asian shares are mixed and US futures edge higher after Wall Street steadies

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    BANGKOK — Asian shares were mixed Friday after Wall Street broke a two-day losing streak and edged back toward record levels, helped by advances for Big Tech companies like Nvidia.

    U.S. futures advanced and oil prices slipped.

    Tech shares regained momentum after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., a major supplier to the industry, reported strong profits and investment plans. TSMC gained 3% early Friday and Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex was up 1.9%.

    The frenzy around AI has sent Nvidia and other superstar stocks to dizzying heights, stirring criticism that their prices had shot too high. Nvidia rose 2.1% on Thursday after TSMC’s Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang said it’s seeing “continued strong demand” in an encouraging signal for the entire AI industry.

    TSMC’s stock that trades in the United States rose 4.4% on Thursday.

    The gains also followed the signing of a U.S.-Taiwan trade deal involving $250 billion in new investments by Taiwan’s semiconductor and tech companies in the U.S. In exchange, the Trump administration will cut tariffs on Taiwanese goods. The deal aims to establish a strategic economic partnership and upgrade U.S. industrial infrastructure.

    In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 shed 0.3% to 53,936.17, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gave up 0.6% to 26,770.56. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.3% to 4,101.91.

    China is due to report its economic growth data for 2025 on Monday. Forecasts are for the economy to have expanded at about a 4.5% annual pace, slowing from earlier in the year.

    Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.9% to a record 4,840.74. The benchmark has been trading at record highs for weeks, helped by a recovery in confidence in AI-related shares. Samsung Electronics gained 3.5%.

    In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5% to 8,903.90. India’s Sensex rose 0.4%.

    Wall Street steadied on Thursday as stocks related to artificial-intelligence bounced back.

    The S&P 500 rose 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6%. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to 23,530.02.

    Easing oil prices also helped to calm investors’ jitters.

    Early Friday, a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude cost $59.21, up 14 cents from a day earlier. It sank 4.6% on Thursday after Trump said he had heard “on good authority” that plans for executions in Iran had stopped amid widespread protests against the country’s leadership.

    Brent crude, the international standard, added 10 cents to $63.86 per barrel. It dropped 4.1% on Thursday.

    Financial markets took Trump’s comments about Iran as a signal that tensions flaring above some of the world’s largest oil deposits could ease, which in turn could lower the possibility of disruptions to oil supplies.

    Earnings reporting season for big U.S. companies continued to pick up pace, meanwhile, with several more big financial companies delivering their results for the last three months of 2025.

    “As we dive into the heart of earnings season in the coming weeks, tech results will be scrutinized in far greater detail.,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya of Swissquote said in a commentary.

    “Concerns around circular AI deals, leverage and delayed returns on investment remain front of mind for investors. These are compounded by rising electricity and metals costs, higher memory-chip prices, and the risk of supply disruptions,” she said.

    BlackRock, the giant that’s now overseeing more than $14 trillion in investments, rose 5.9% after reporting stronger profit and revenue than analysts expected.

    Encouraging reports on the U.S. economy contributed to the upbeat mood.

    One said fewer workers applied for unemployment benefits last week in an indication layoffs may be slowing. Other reports said manufacturing was significantly stronger in the mid-Atlantic region and in New York state than economists had forecast.

    The stronger-than-expected data on the U.S. economy helped stocks of smaller companies to lead the market. Their profits can be tied more closely to the strength of the U.S. economy than their bigger, multinational rivals, and the Russell 2000 index rose 0.9%.

    In other dealings early Friday, the U.S. dollar fell to 158.19 Japanese yen from 158.63 yen.

    The euro rose to $1.1614 from $1.1609.

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  • US futures slip while world shares are mixed as Fed chair Powell faces legal threat

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    BANGKOK — U.S. futures sank Monday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Department of Justice had served the central bank with subpoenas.

    Markets in Europe were mostly lower after a broad rally in Asia.

    The threat of a criminal indictment over Powell’s testimony about the Fed’s building renovations is the latest escalation in President Donald Trump’s feud with the Fed. Trump has criticized the $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings as excessive.

    Markets appeared to take the news in stride, although gold and other precious metals often used as a hedge in times of uncertainty climbed.

    The future for the S&P 500 declined 0.7% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%. The future for the Nasdaq composite index slipped 1.1%.

    In Germany, the DAX was nearly flat at 25,265.46, while the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.5% to 8,319.03. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.1% lower, to 10,114.82.

    In Asian trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.4% to 26,608.48, while the Shanghai Composite index jumped 1.1% to 4,165.29 after reports that Chinese leaders were preparing more help for the economy.

    Tokyo’s markets were closed for a holiday.

    In South Korea, the Kospi added 0.8% to 4,624.79, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5% to 8,759.40.

    Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.9%.

    On Friday, U.S. stocks hit records following a mixed report on the U.S. job market, one that may delay another cut to interest rates by the Federal Reserve but does not slam the door on it.

    Powell’s term as chair ends in May, and Trump administration officials have signaled that he could name a potential replacement this month. Trump has also sought to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook.

    In a brief interview with NBC News Sunday, Trump insisted he didn’t know about the investigation into Powell. When asked if the investigation is intended to pressure Powell on rates, Trump said, “No. I wouldn’t even think of doing it that way.”

    The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to 6,966.28, topping its prior all-time high set earlier in the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5% to 49,504.07, and likewise set a record.

    The Nasdaq composite led the market with a 0.8% gain, closing at 23,671.35.

    The U.S. Labor Department said employers hired fewer workers during December than economists expected, though the unemployment rate improved and was better than expected. It reinforced how the U.S. job market may be in a “ low-hire, low-fire” state and may hopefully avoid a recession.

    An update on U.S. inflation at the consumer level is due Tuesday, followed by a report on wholesale prices on Wednesday.

    In other dealings early Monday, the dollar fell to 157.77 Japanese yen from 158.03 yen.

    The euro climbed to $1.1690 from $1.1635 late Friday.

    U.S. benchmark crude oil gave up early gains, falling 12 cents to $59.00 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 9 cents to $63.25 per barrel.

    The price of gold rose 2.3% and the price of silver jumped 6.3%. Copper was up 1.4%.

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  • Asian shares trade mixed after Wall Street hits records on tech gains

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    TOKYO — Asian shares traded mixed Wednesday, calming somewhat from the buzz set off by recent record rallies on Wall Street, while investors’ attention turned to global interest rates and uncertainty caused by developments in Venezuela.

    Despite a broad rally on Wall Street, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.1% to finish at 51,961.98, and South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.6% to 4,551.06. Both had set records a day earlier.

    In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% to 8,695.60.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 1.1% to 26,419.05, while the Shanghai Composite added less than 0.1% to 4,085.77.

    “Global uncertainty continues to deepen,” Tan Boon Heng of Mizuho Bank in Singapore said in a commentary, because of U.S. forces capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a weekend raid, and President Donald Trump’s threats to take control of Greenland.

    On Tuesday, broad gains led by technology stocks pushed prices on Wall Street to more records. The gains mirror much of the action from the previous year, when big technology stocks often drove the market to a series of records.

    The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 6,944.82, setting a record on just the third trading day of the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1% to 49,462.08, hitting a record for a second-straight day. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.6%, to 23,547.17.

    Small company stocks outpaced their larger counterparts as the Russell 2000 jumped 1.4%. It’s now just below its record set in December.

    Amazon, which surged 3.4%, is one of the most valuable companies in the world. Technology companies, especially those focused on artificial intelligence, are being closely watched this week during the industry’s annual CES trade show in Las Vegas. AI advances helped propel the broader U.S. market to a series of records in 2025.

    The Federal Reserve will be analyzing economic data for its next meeting in late January. The central bank cut its benchmark interest rate three times late in 2025. Wall Street expects the Fed to hold interest rates steady at its January meeting.

    Treasury yields rose in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.16% from 4.15% late Monday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which moves more closely with expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do, rose to 3.46% from 3.45% late Monday.

    In other trading early Wednesday, the price of benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 88 cents or 1.5% to $56.25 per barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 70 cents to $60.00 per barrel.

    Gold prices slipped 0.3% and silver prices declined 1.5%. Such assets are often considered safe havens in times of geopolitical turmoil. The metals have notched record prices over the last year amid lingering economic concerns brought on by conflicts and trade wars.

    In currency trading, the U.S. dollar fell to 156.35 Japanese yen from 156.62 yen. The euro cost $1.1700, inching up from $1.1692.

    ___

    AP Business Writer Damian J. Troise contributed.

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  • Asian shares and US futures advance, as Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 hits a record high

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    BANGKOK — Asian shares logged strong gains, with Tokyo’s benchmark closing at a record high on Tuesday, after a broad rally on Wall Street.

    Oil prices fell back after surging Monday following the capture by U.S. forces of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a weekend raid.

    Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.3% to 52,518.08, beating its Oct. 31 record, on strong buying of tech related shares like precision tools maker Disco Corp., which jumped 6.1%.

    South Korea’s Kospi also pushed further into record territory, gaining 1.5% to 4,525.98, buoyed by gains for automakers and some electronics manufacturers.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 1.5% to 26,748.80, and the Shanghai Composite index was up 1.5% at 4,082.36, it’s highest level in four years.

    In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.5% to 8,682.80.

    Taiwan’s Taiex climbed 1.6%, while in India, the Sensex shed 0.5%.

    Monday’s gains on Wall Street were broad, with particularly big jumps for energy companies and banks. Elsewhere, industrial companies and retailers joined in to help boost major indexes.

    The S&P 500 rose 0.6%, ending just below its record set in late December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average set a record, adding 1.2% to 48,977.18.

    The Nasdaq composite rose 0.7%.

    Smaller company stocks had a particularly strong day, outpacing other indexes, in a sign of broader investor confidence. The Russell 2000 rose 1.6%.

    Energy companies and the oil market were a key focus after the capture of Maduro by U.S. forces. The price of U.S. crude jumped 1.7% to $58.32 per barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 1.7% to $61.76 per barrel.

    However, oil fell back early Tuesday. U.S. crude shed 18 cents to $58.14 per barrel, while Brent crude lost 12 cents to $61.64 per barrel.

    Chevron jumped 5.1%, Exxon Mobil rose 2.2% and Halliburton surged 7.8% for some of the strongest gains in the market after President Donald Trump floated a plan for U.S. oil companies to help rebuild Venezuela’s oil industry.

    Venezuela’s oil industry has been decimated by neglect and international sanctions and may require years of substantial investments to restore past production levels.

    Investors will get several updates on the U.S. economy this week.

    On Monday, the Institute for Supply Management released its manufacturing index for December showing the sector continued shrinking. More importantly, the business group will release its December report on the services sector on Wednesday. The services sector makes up the bulk of the U.S. economy and it grew, even if only slightly, throughout most of 2025.

    Reports on the job market later this week, which include updates for job openings and overall employment, will be a bigger focus for the Federal Reserve. The U.S. central bank has been weighing a slowing job market against risks for rising inflation as it decides whether to cut interest rates. It cut its benchmark rate three times late in 2025, but inflation has remained above its 2% target and that has made the Fed more cautious.

    Wall Street still expects the Fed to hold rates steady at its upcoming meeting later in January.

    Technology companies, especially artificial intelligence, were in the spotlight Monday as the industry kicked off the annual CES trade show in Las Vegas. Nvidia fell 0.4% and Applied Materials jumped 5.7%.

    AI advances helped propel the broader market to a series of records in 2025. Updates from influential technology companies could help shed more light on whether the big investments in AI are worth the potential financial risks.

    In other trading early Tuesday, the U.S. dollar slipped to 156.28 Japanese yen from 156.40 yen. The euro rose to $1.1739 from $1.1724.

    Gold gained 0.5% after a 2.8% jump on Monday. The price of silver added another 2.9% after soaring 7.9% on Monday. Such assets are often considered safe havens in times of geopolitical turmoil. The metals have notched record prices over the last year amid lingering economic concerns brought on by conflicts and trade wars.

    Bitcoin fell back 1.3% after rising to its highest level since mid-November, falling to about $93,700.

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  • Markets show mixed reactions after US capture of Venezuelan leader

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    BANGKOK — Oil prices fell back Monday while the prices of precious metals surged as markets registered a mixed reaction to the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a weekend raid.

    Share prices opened higher, with benchmarks in South Korea and Japan again setting fresh records. U.S. futures were flat after stocks eked out small gains Friday on Wall Street.

    Shortly after trading began, U.S. benchmark crude oil rose slightly. But it later was trading 23 cents lower at $57.09 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 17 cents to $60.58 per barrel.

    After years of neglect and international sanctions, Venezuela’s oil industry is in disrepair. It could take years and major investments before production can increase dramatically. But some analysts expect Venezuela could double or triple its current output of about 1.1 million barrels of oil a day to return to historic levels fairly quickly.

    With oil levels already plentiful, crude has been trading at its lowest level in about six months.

    In any case, the U.S. move was reverberating through financial markets as traders maneuvered to account for the uncertainty brought on President Donald Trump’s unusual military operation and his insistence that the U.S. will be running Venezuela following its Maduro’s ouster.

    The price of gold rose 1.9%, while silver jumped 5.7%.

    Such assets are often considered safe havens in times of geopolitical turmoil.

    “Investors are happy to own risk, but they want insurance in the drawer. This is confidence with a hedge, not euphoria,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

    Share prices in Asia shot sharply higher.

    In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 jumped 3% to 51,853.53. The index closed at a year end high for 2025 and only resumed trading on Monday.

    “Looking at the environment surrounding the markets, continuously, there are various risk factors. We must keep an eye on geopolitical risks in Ukraine, the Middle East and East Asia, the U.S.-China trade war, monetary policies in other countries and their development, and corporate performance trends in Japan,” Hiromi Yamaji, CEO of the Japan Exchange Group, said in the traditional New Year opening ceremony.

    South Korea’s Kospi surged 3.1% to 4,441.80. It had ended Friday with a record high close.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.1% to 8,733.30, while Taiwan’s benchmark climbed 2.9%.

    In other trading early Monday, the dollar rose to 157.27 Japanese yen from 156.82 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1682 from $1.1726.

    On Friday, U.S. stocks eked out small gains on Wall Street in a wobbly but quiet day of trading to kick off the new year.

    The S&P 500 rose 0.2%, to 6,858.47, coming off a gain of more than 16% in 2025.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% to 48,382.39, while the Nasdaq composite fell less than 0.1%, to 23,235.63. The index was weighed down by a 2.2% loss for Microsoft and a 2.6% decline for Tesla, after it reported falling sales for a second year in a row.

    Nvidia, Microsoft and Tesla are among the most valuable companies in the world and their outsized valuations give them more influence on the stock market’s direction. That includes sometimes pushing the market up and down from hour to hour.

    Furniture companies gained ground following President Donald Trump’s move to delay increased tariffs on upholstered furniture. RH rose 8% and Wayfair rose 6.1%.

    This week is the first full week of the new year. It will bring several closely watched economic updates, some of the last big updates the Fed sees before its next meeting at the end of January.

    On the agenda are private reports on the status of the services sector, which is the largest part of the U.S. economy, along with consumer sentiment. Government reports on the job market will also be released. The hope is they’ll help paint a clearer picture of how various parts of the U.S. economy closed out 2025 and where it might be headed in 2026.

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  • Shares are higher in Asia in an upbeat start to the new year

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    BANGKOK — Asian markets began the new year Friday with gains, while U.S. futures and oil prices also advanced.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.2% to 26,189.79 on a strong rally in tech shares.

    E-commerce giant Alibaba climbed 3.2% and search engine and technology company Baidu jumped 7.5% after it said it plans to spin off its artificial intelligence computer chip unit Kunlunxin, which would list shares in Hong Kong early 2027. The plan is subject to regulatory approvals.

    Markets were still closed in Tokyo, Shanghai, Thailand and New Zealand.

    South Korea’s Kospi picked up 1.5% to 4,277.94, while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia edged 0.2% higher, to 8,727.30.

    Taiwan’s Taiex was up 1.1% and the Sensex in India added 0.1%.

    Asian shares have been supported by expectations that growth in the use of artificial intelligence will spur demand for computer chips and other items needed to build out data centers and other infrastructure.

    Recent manufacturing data for much of the region has been relatively weak, though trade has remained resilient.

    “Exports from most countries have surged in recent months, and we think the near-term outlook for Asia’s export-oriented manufacturing sectors remains favorable,” Shivaan Tandon of Capital Economics said in a report.

    The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.5% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3%.

    On Wednesday, U.S. stocks finished 2025 with a fourth day of losses, despite strong gains for the year.

    The S&P 500 gave up 0.7% to 6,845.50 and the Dow fell 0.6% to 48,063.29. The Nasdaq composite closed 0.8% lower at 23,241.99.

    The S&P 500 set 39 record highs in 2025 and closed 16.4% higher for the year. The Nasdaq gained 20.4% and the Dow finished 13% higher.

    Wall Street’s 2025 gains came as investors embraced the optimism surrounding artificial intelligence and its potential for boosting profits across almost all sectors. But the market had no shortage of turbulence along the way amid

    President Donald Trump eventually put his on-again, off-again tariffs on imported goods worldwide on pause while negotiating trade deals, helping to calm frayed nerves.

    Strong corporate profits and three cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve also helped drive markets higher.

    Wall Street is betting that the Fed will hold interest rates steady at its next meeting in January.

    The Labor Department reported that fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week with layoffs remaining low despite a weakening labor market.

    All of the sectors in the S&P 500 closed in the red Wednesday, with technology stocks the biggest drag on the market. Western Digital fell 2.2% and Micron Technology lost 2.5%. Both were among the biggest gainers in the S&P 500 this year.

    In other dealings early Friday, silver gained 3.5% after giving back 9.4% on Wednesday. It gained more than 140% in 2025.

    Gold picked up 1.1%. It closed out the year with a 63.7% gain.

    U.S. benchmark crude gained 35 cents to $57.77 per barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, was up 35 cents at $61.20 per barrel.

    The U.S. dollar rose to 156.80 Japanese yen from 156.75 yen. The euro climbed to $1.1760 from $1.1746.

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  • Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most closed nations, legalizes crypto mining and exchanges

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    ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan — ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most isolated nations, officially legalized mining and exchanging cryptocurrency on Thursday in a major shift for the country’s tightly controlled, gas-dependent economy.

    Signed by President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, the legislation regulating virtual assets brings cryptocurrencies under civil law and establishes a licensing scheme for cryptocurrency exchanges overseen by the country’s central bank.

    However, digital currencies will still not be recognized as a means of payment, currency, or security. Turkmenistan’s internet also remains tightly regulated and controlled by the government.

    Turkmenistan, a former Soviet country in Central Asia, relies heavily on the export of its vast natural gas reserves to support its economy. China is the country’s main importer of gas, and Turkmenistan is currently working on a pipeline to supply gas to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

    Turkmenistan also adopted a law introducing electronic visas in April last year, aimed at simplifying entry for foreigners. After gaining independence in 1991, the autocratic nation typically placed strict entry requirements on would-be visitors, with many visa applications turned down for unclear reasons.

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