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Stock market today: Asian benchmarks are mixed as Tokyo sips on strong yen

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Stock market today: Asian benchmarks are mixed as Tokyo sips on strong yen
News

News

Stock market today: Asian benchmarks are mixed as Tokyo sips on strong yen

2024-08-01 13:44 Last Updated At:13:50

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares traded mixed Thursday as Tokyo's benchmark plunged as the U.S. dollar sank against the yen.

Regional investors are also digesting the rally on Wall Street that came on hopes U.S. cuts to interest rates will be arriving soon.

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A pair of traders work at the post of specialist James Denaro, right, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A pair of traders work at the post of specialist James Denaro, right, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A bank of television screens on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, shows Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Wednesday, July 31, 2024.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A bank of television screens on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, shows Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Wednesday, July 31, 2024.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist Michael Pistillo works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, July 31, 2024.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist Michael Pistillo works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, July 31, 2024.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A television screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, shows the Federal Reserve rate decision, Wednesday, July 31, 2024.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A television screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, shows the Federal Reserve rate decision, Wednesday, July 31, 2024.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

People pass the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, July 31, 2024 in New York. Global stocks have advanced and oil prices jumped more than $2 a barrel after Hamas's top political leader died in an air strike.(AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

People pass the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, July 31, 2024 in New York. Global stocks have advanced and oil prices jumped more than $2 a barrel after Hamas's top political leader died in an air strike.(AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

People pass the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, July 30, 2024 in New York. Wall Street is mixed as more companies post quarterly earnings numbers and the Federal Reserve prepares to convene its latest monetary policy meeting and talk about the future of rates in the U.S.(AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

People pass the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, July 30, 2024 in New York. Wall Street is mixed as more companies post quarterly earnings numbers and the Federal Reserve prepares to convene its latest monetary policy meeting and talk about the future of rates in the U.S.(AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

Currency traders watch monitors near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top 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, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top 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, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader watches the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader watches the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A strong yen is a plus for Japan's purchases but hurts the nation's giant exporters like Toyota Motor Corp., by eroding the value of overseas profits.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped 2.6% in morning trading to 38,094.24. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.4% to 8,125.80. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.5% to 2,785.56. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.3% to 17,285.66, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.3% to 2,931.50.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar fell to 149.61 Japanese yen from 149.92 yen. The euro cost $1.0831, little changed from $1.0830. The dollar had been trading at 160-yen levels several weeks ago. But that reversed course as anticipation grew for a Bank of Japan rate cut, which came Wednesday.

Toyota stock sank 5.3%, while Nintendo fell 3.5% and Sony 3.1%.

Analysts said indications from the Federal Reserve were that rate cuts were coming.

“A September cut is now priced in with certainty, and almost three cuts are priced in by the year-end,” said Robert Carnell, regional head of research Asia-Pacific at ING Economics.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 jumped 1.6% for its best day since February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 99 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite soared 2.6%.

The widespread gains came as Treasury yields eased in the bond market after the Federal Reserve gave the clearest indication yet that it could begin lowering interest rates in September. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said policy makers are “getting closer to the point” of comfort about inflation where they could cut rates for the first time since COVID-19 crashed the economy.

“We think that the time is approaching,” Powell said. “And if we do get the data that we hope we get, then a reduction in our policy rate could be on the table at the September meeting.”

After the Fed voted to keep interest rates steady on Wednesday, as was widely expected, Powell spent much of an ensuing press conference discussing the risks of both moving too early or too late with rate cuts. One could allow inflation to reaccelerate, while the other could cause unnecessary pain for the economy and ultimately throw Americans out of their jobs.

After keeping its main interest rate at a two-decade high for roughly a year, speculation may rise that the Fed waited too long. That “has the potential to add to the stock market’s choppiness as we head toward what is historically its most volatile period,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.

For Wednesday, though, the dominant mood on Wall Street was jubilance.

Advanced Micro Devices rallied 4.4% after reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, thanks in part to accelerating artificial-intelligence business. That helped drive Nvidia, the chip company that’s become the poster child for Wall Street’s frenzy around AI, up 12.9% a day after it lost 7%.

How such Big Tech stocks perform matters a lot because they’re Wall Street’s most valuable companies, and that gives them the biggest sway on the S&P 500. A handful of these stocks, known as the “Magnificent Seven,” drove the U.S. stock market to dozens of records this year, even as many other stocks struggled under the weight of high interest rates. But they ran out of momentum this month amid criticism they had gotten too expensive and expectations had run too high.

Such criticism hasn’t gone away, and Microsoft fell 1.1% despite reporting profit and revenue for the latest quarter that edged past analysts’ expectations. Growth in its Azure cloud-computing business fell a bit shy of analysts’ forecasts. That followed earlier profit reports from Tesla and Alphabet that investors found underwhelming, which raised concerns that other Magnificent Seven stocks could also fail to impress.

Meta Platforms rose 2.5% as investors waited for its profit report, which arrived after trading closed for Wednesday. Amazon and Apple will follow on Thursday, and each rose at least 1.5%.

Stronger-than-expected profit reports from companies outside the Magnificent Seven also helped lift the market.

Match Group jumped 13.2% after saying its user trends for Tinder are stabilizing and reporting results for the latest quarter that roughly matched analysts’ expectations.

DuPont rose 4.1% after delivering better profit and revenue than expected, thanks in part to a recovery for the electronics business, and the chemical giant raised its financial forecasts for the full year.

They helped offset a 3% drop for Altria Group after the maker of cigarettes and smoke-free products fell short of expectations for profit and revenue in its latest quarter.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 85.86 points to 5,522.30. The Dow gained 99.46 to 40,842.79, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 451.98 to 17,599.40.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.05% from 4.14% late Tuesday. It’s been falling from 4.70% in April as a slowdown in inflation raised expectations for coming cuts to interest rates.

Yields fell in the morning after a report showed U.S. employers spent less in total pay and benefits for workers during the spring than economists expected. Another suggested hiring by employers outside the government was a touch weaker than expected.

While workers would surely like such numbers to be stronger, it could be the type of “Goldilocks” data that Wall Street is looking for: not so strong that it pushes upward on inflation but not so weak that it raises worries about a recession.

Some of Wednesday’s strongest action was in the oil market, where the price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude jumped about 4%. Hamas’s top political leader Ismail Haniyeh died in a predawn airstrike in the Iranian capital early Wednesday, Iran and the militant group said, blaming Israel for a shock assassination that could escalate conflict in the region and potential disrupt the flow of oil. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 52 cents to $78.43 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added $2.09 to $80.72 a barrel.

AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.

A pair of traders work at the post of specialist James Denaro, right, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A pair of traders work at the post of specialist James Denaro, right, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A bank of television screens on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, shows Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Wednesday, July 31, 2024.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A bank of television screens on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, shows Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Wednesday, July 31, 2024.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist Michael Pistillo works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, July 31, 2024.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist Michael Pistillo works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, July 31, 2024.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A television screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, shows the Federal Reserve rate decision, Wednesday, July 31, 2024.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A television screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, shows the Federal Reserve rate decision, Wednesday, July 31, 2024.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

People pass the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, July 31, 2024 in New York. Global stocks have advanced and oil prices jumped more than $2 a barrel after Hamas's top political leader died in an air strike.(AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

People pass the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, July 31, 2024 in New York. Global stocks have advanced and oil prices jumped more than $2 a barrel after Hamas's top political leader died in an air strike.(AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

People pass the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, July 30, 2024 in New York. Wall Street is mixed as more companies post quarterly earnings numbers and the Federal Reserve prepares to convene its latest monetary policy meeting and talk about the future of rates in the U.S.(AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

People pass the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, July 30, 2024 in New York. Wall Street is mixed as more companies post quarterly earnings numbers and the Federal Reserve prepares to convene its latest monetary policy meeting and talk about the future of rates in the U.S.(AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

Currency traders watch monitors near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top 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, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top 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, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader watches the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader watches the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump used one of the flurry of executive actions that he issued on his first day back in the White House to begin the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization for the second time in less than five years — a move many scientists fear could roll back decadeslong gains made in fighting infectious diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

Experts have also cautioned that withdrawing from the organization could weaken the world’s defenses against dangerous new outbreaks capable of triggering pandemics.

Here’s a look at what Trump’s decision means:

During the first Oval Office appearance of his second term, Trump signed an executive order detailing how the withdrawal process might begin.

“Ooh," Trump exclaimed as he was handed the action to sign. "That’s a big one!”

His move calls for pausing the future transfer of U.S. government funds to the organization, recalling and reassigning federal personnel and contractors working with WHO and calls on officials to “identify credible and transparent United States and international partners to assume necessary activities previously undertaken by” WHO.

This isn’t the first time Trump has tried to sever ties with WHO. In July 2020, several months after WHO declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic and as cases surged globally, Trump’s administration officially notified U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the U.S. was planning to pull out of WHO, suspending funding to the agency.

President Joe Biden reversed Trump’s decision on his first day in office in January 2021 — only to have Trump essentially revive it on his first day back at the White House.

It is the U.N.’s specialized health agency and is mandated to coordinate the world’s response to global health threats, including outbreaks of mpox, Ebola and polio. It also provides technical assistance to poorer countries, helps distribute scarce vaccines, supplies and treatments and sets guidelines for hundreds of health conditions, including mental health and cancer.

“A U.S. withdrawal from WHO would make the world far less healthy and safe,” said Lawrence Gostin, director of the WHO Collaborating Center on Global Health Law at Georgetown University. He said in an email that losing American resources would devastate WHO's global surveillance and epidemic response efforts.

Dr. Tom Frieden, a former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Trump's move "surrenders our role as a global health leader and silences America’s voice in critical decisions affecting global health security.”

“We cannot make WHO more effective by walking away from it,” Frieden said in a statement. “This decision weakens America’s influence and increases the risk of a deadly pandemic.”

Yes, as long as he gets the approval of Congress and the U.S. meets its financial obligations to WHO for the current fiscal year. The U.S. joined WHO via a 1948 joint resolution passed by both chambers of Congress, which has subsequently been supported by all administrations. The resolution requires the U.S. to provide a one-year notice period should it decide to leave WHO.

It’s extremely bad. The U.S. has historically been among WHO’s biggest donors, providing the U.N. health agency not only with hundreds of millions of dollars, but also hundreds of staffers with specialized public health expertise.

In the last decade, the U.S. has given WHO about $160 million to $815 million every year. WHO’s yearly budget is about $2 billion to $3 billion. Losing U.S. funding could cripple numerous global health initiatives, including the effort to eradicate polio, maternal and child health programs, and research to identify new viral threats.

American agencies that work with WHO would also suffer, including the CDC. Leaving WHO would exclude the U.S. from WHO-coordinated initiatives, like determining the yearly composition of flu vaccines and quick access to critical genetic databases run by WHO, which could stall attempts to produce immunizations and medicines.

At a September campaign rally, Trump said he would “take on the corruption” at WHO and other public health institutions that he said were “dominated” by corporate power and China.

His executive order Monday said the U.S. was withdrawing from WHO “due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China and other global health crises” and cited the agency’s “failure to adopt urgently needed reforms” and its “inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states.”

WHO made several costly mistakes during the pandemic, including advising people against wearing masks and asserting that COVID-19 was not airborne. The agency only officially acknowledged last year that the virus is indeed spread in the air.

During its efforts to stop COVID-19, WHO also dealt with the biggest sexual abuse scandal i n its history, when media reports revealed that dozens of Congolese women had been sexually harassed or assaulted by health responders working to contain Ebola. The AP found senior managers were informed of some instances of sexual abuse when they occurred in 2019 but did little to stop them or punish perpetrators.

In a statement Tuesday, WHO said it “regrets” Trump's announcement.

“We hope the United States will reconsider and we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the USA and WHO,” the organization said.

“For over seven decades, WHO and the USA have saved countless lives and protected Americans and all people from health threats. Together, we ended smallpox, and together we have brought polio to the brink of eradication,” WHO said.

At a Geneva news briefing on Tuesday, WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said the U.S. contributed 18% of WHO's budget in 2023, making it the single biggest donor that year. He declined to say what the U.S. withdrawal might mean for WHO.

Cheng reported from Toronto. Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

President Donald Trump signs an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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