Stock market today: Asian shares trade mostly higher after S&P 500, Nasdaq reach more records

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Tuesday after Wall Street benchmarks reached more milestones.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.5% in morning trading to 41,386.80. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.7% to 7,819.30. South Korea's Kospi edged up nearly 0.1% to 2,859.63. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.4% to 17,450.73, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, inching down to 2,921.88.

“Risk-taking will still likely be more measured ahead of the Federal Reserve Chair’s testimony and the key U.S. inflation release this week,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market analyst at IG.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite each notched all-time highs after finishing with gains of 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up an early gain and closed 0.1% lower.

Wall Street indexes have been gaining ground steadily over the last several months, and that has helped push the benchmark S&P 500 index to 35 records so far this year.

“The current market is positive and steady to a nearly unprecedented degree,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide. “It’s extremely rare to see these types of consistent gains with almost no volatility.”

Gains in tech stocks, including several chipmakers, tempered declines in communication services, energy and other sectors of the S&P 500. Nvidia rose 1.9%, Broadcom added 2.5% and Advanced Micro Devices finished with a 3.9% gain.

Specialty glassware maker Corning surged 12% for the biggest gain in the market Monday after raising its sales forecast.

Troubled airplane maker Boeing rose 0.5% after agreeing to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two crashes of 737 Max jetliners that killed 346 people. The government determined the company violated an agreement that had protected it from prosecution for more than three years.

Entertainment giant Paramount Global slid 5.3% for the biggest decline among S&P 500 stocks after it agreed to merge with Skydance.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 5.66 points to 5,572.85. The Nasdaq added 50.98 points to close at 18,403.74. The Dow fell 31.08 points to 39,344.79.

Traders are looking ahead to several earnings reports this week including updates from Delta Air Lines on Thursday.

JPMorgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo will report results on Friday. The latest updates for banks could give Wall Street a clearer picture on how consumers are handling increased debt and whether banks are worried about payments and potential delinquencies.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell addresses Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. The central bank has kept its benchmark interest rate at its highest level in more than two decades in an effort to tame inflation.

The Fed's goal is to cool inflation back to 2% without slowing economic growth too much. Inflation is still squeezing consumers, but it has fallen significantly from its peak two years ago. Economic growth has slowed this year, but it remains relatively strong amid a solid jobs market and consumer spending.

The central bank will get more updates on inflation at the consumer level on Thursday. Wall Street expects the latest government report to show inflation easing to 3.1% in June from 3.3% in May.

A report for inflation at the wholesale level, before costs are passed on to consumers, is expected Friday.

Inflation is seemingly stuck at around 3% by most measures. That has prompted more caution from the Fed and dampened expectations for the number of anticipated rate cuts this year. Most experts are expecting one rate cut from the Fed this year, but not until September. The Fed holds its next policy meeting later this month.

Treasury yields were relatively stable in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.27% from 4.28% late Friday.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude shed 26 cents to $82.07 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, slid 27 cents to $85.48 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged up to 161.00 Japanese yen from 160.78 yen.

Analysts said the euro was showing stability despite the ample political uncertainty after the recent French elections. The outcome was being seen as preferable to a possibly more disruptive outcome with a majority win by the far-right or far-left, they said.

The euro cost $1.0826, little changed from $1.0828.

AP Business Writers Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga contributed to this report.

Currency traders work near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, July 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader watches monitors near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, July 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader passes by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, July 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

FILE - The New York Stock Exchange is seen on July 3, 2024, in New York. Asian stocks have fallen while European markets are higher on Monday, July 8, 2024, after France's elections left its legislature divided among left, center and far right, with no single political faction getting close to a majority. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm under the intense sun Monday, July 8, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

People are reflected on the window of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Monday, July 8, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm under the intense sun Monday, July 8, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm under the intense sun Monday, July 8, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

FILE - A person walks past at an electronic stock board showing financial indexes including Japan's Nikkei 225 index, green, at a securities firm in Tokyo, June 27, 2024. Asian shares were mostly lower on Friday, July 5, after solid gains in Europe overnight, while U.S. markets were closed for the July 4th holiday. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)

FILE - The New York Stock Exchange is seen on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, in New York. Shares advanced Friday, July 5, 2024, in Europe after Britain's Labour Party prevailed over the Conservatives in this week's national election. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

An Israeli airstrike hit a mosque in central Gaza and Palestinian officials said at least 19 people were killed early Sunday. Israeli planes also lit up the skyline across the southern suburbs of Beirut, striking what the military said were Hezbollah targets.

The strike in Gaza hit a mosque where displaced people were sheltering near the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. Another four people were killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people near the town.

The Israeli military said both strikes targeted militants, without providing evidence.

An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead from the strike on the mosque were all men, while another man was wounded.

In Beirut, the strikes reportedly targeted a building near a road leading to Lebanon’s only international airport and another formerly used by the Hezbollah-run broadcaster Al-Manar.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark, nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.

Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the latest conflict, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Here is the latest:

BEIRUT — The southern suburbs of Beirut were hit by more than 30 strikes overnight, the heaviest bombardment since Sept. 23, when Israel began a significant escalation in its air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Sunday.

The targets included a gas station on the main highway leading to the Beirut airport and a warehouse for medical supplies, the agency said.

Some of the overnight strikes set off a long series of explosions, suggesting that ammunition stores may have been hit.

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron called for “a halt to arms exports for use in Gaza,” saying it's urgent to avoid escalating tensions in the region, his office said.

Macron drew strong criticism from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by saying "the priority is … that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza.” He made the comments in an interview with France Inter radio, which was recorded on Tuesday and aired Saturday.

France doesn’t deliver any weapons to Israel, Macron said.

Netanyahu released a video statement in which he called out the French president by name and referred to such calls as a “disgrace.”

In a statement, Macron’s office said “France is Israel’s unfailing friend. Mr. Netanyahu’s words are excessive and irrelevant to the friendship between France and Israel.”

“We must return to diplomatic solutions,” it added.

The statement also said that Macron had demonstrated his commitment to Israel's security when France mobilized its military resources in response to the Iranian attack. French authorities did not provided details about France’s role.

Macron has called for an immediate cease-fire in both Gaza and Lebanon.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An apparent Israeli airstrike early Sunday killed at least 18 people in central Gaza, Palestinian medical officials said.

The strike hit a mosque sheltering displaced people near the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah, the hospital said in a statement.

An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead were all men. Another two men were critically wounded, the hospital said.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment about the strike on the mosque.

The latest strikes add to the mounting Palestinian death toll in Gaza, which is now nearing 42,000 according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, but many of the dead were women and children.

BEIRUT — Powerful new explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs late Saturday as Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon, also striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.

Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the widening conflict in the region, while rallies were held around the world marking the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.

The strong explosions began near midnight after Israel’s military urged residents to evacuate areas in Beirut’s Haret Hreik and Choueifat neighborhoods. AP video showed the blasts illuminating the densely populated southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. They followed a day of sporadic strikes and the nearly continuous buzz of reconnaissance drones.

Israel’s military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 30 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

A man checks the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Emergency workers inspect a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Israeli soldiers pray at a staging area in northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

An Israeli soldier prays at a staging area in northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

People check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises from a destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Mourners gather around the bodies of Palestinian men who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)