TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly declined in cautious trading Tuesday ahead of earnings reports in the region and elsewhere, as Wall Street’s long, record-breaking rally ran out of steam.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 1.4% to 38,418.72. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.7% to 8,205.70, while South Korea's Kospi slipped 1.3% to 2,570.48.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost was flat at 20,486.56, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4% to 3,280.04 following a cut to interest rates that took effect on Monday.
“The next two weeks are set to be a wild ride. Volatility has surged across stocks, bonds, and currencies as investors brace for a perfect storm of risks: a hotly contested U.S. election, critical interest-rate decisions in both the U.S. and Europe, the looming threat of a wider Middle East conflict, and the ever-present pressure of quarterly earnings,” Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 5,853.98, coming off a sixth straight winning week, its longest such streak of the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.8% from its own record that was likewise set on Friday, to 42,931.60. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.3% to 18,540.00.
Real-estate stocks fell to the sharpest loss among the 11 sectors that make up the S&P 500 index, while homebuilders Lennar and D.R. Horton both fell at least 4.3%. Home Depot’s 2.1% drop was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500.
The declines mean at least a pause in Wall Street’s rally to records, which was built in large part on optimism that the U.S. economy can make a perfect escape from the worst inflation in generations, one that ends without a painful recession that many investors had worried could be inevitable.
With the Federal Reserve now cutting interest rates to keep the economy humming, optimists hope stocks can rise even further. But critics are warning stock prices look too expensive given they’ve climbed much faster than corporate profits.
That puts pressure on companies to deliver growth in profits to justify their stock prices, and more than 100 companies in the S&P 500 are scheduled to give details this week about their performances during the summer. That includes such heavyweights as AT&T, Coca-Cola, IBM, General Motors and Tesla.
Tesla slipped 0.8% ahead of its report. Its stock has been shaky recently, including a tumble after an update on its highly anticipated robotaxi included fewer details than investors were hoping for.
Boeing is reporting its latest results on Wednesday. It rose 3.1% after reaching an agreement with the union representing its striking machinists on a contract proposal. The union’s members could vote Wednesday on the deal, which could end a costly walkout that has crippled production of airplanes for more than a month.
Trump Media & Technology Group rose 5.8% to top $31, continuing its strong run since it briefly dipped below $12 last month. The company behind former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform is still losing money, but its stock often moves more with his perceived chances of reelection than anything else.
The Bank of Canada will also announce its latest decision on interest rates Wednesday, where it could cut by half a percentage point.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost 21 cents to $70.35 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 36 cents to $73.93 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 150.79 Japanese yen from 150.69 yen. The euro inched up to $1.0822 from $1.0819.
FILE - People pass the New York Stock Exchange, at rear, in New York's Financial District on Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A police officer rides a bicycle in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — King Charles III ends the first visit to Australia by a reigning British monarch in 13 years Tuesday with anti-monarchists hoping his journey is a step toward an Australian citizen becoming head of state.
Controversy interrupted the visit on Monday when Indigenous independent senator Lidia Thorpe yelled at Charles during a reception that he was not her king and Australia was not his land.
Esther Anatolitis, co-chair of the Australian Republic Movement, that campaigns for an Australian citizen to replace the British monarch as Australia’s head of state, said while thousands turned out to see the king and Queen Camilla at their public engagements, the numbers were larger when his mother Queen Elizabeth II first visited Australia 70 years ago.
An estimated 75% of Australia’s population saw the queen in person during the first visit by a reigning British monarch in 1954.
“It’s understandable that Australians would be welcoming the king and queen, we also welcome them,” Anatolitis said. “But it doesn’t make any sense to continue to have a head of state appointed by birth right from another country.”
Anatolitis acknowledged that getting a majority of Australians in a majority of states to vote to change the constitution would be difficult. Australians haven’t changed their constitution since 1977.
“It’s tricky, isn’t it? We’ve got that hurdle, of course,” Anatolitis said.
Constitutional lawyer Anne Twomey said an Australian republic was not something that Charles, 75, need worry about in his lifetime.
She said the failure of a referendum last year to create an “utterly innocuous” Indigenous representative body to advise government demonstrated the difficulty in changing Australia’s constitution.
“It’s just that on the whole people aren’t prepared to change the constitution,” Twomey said.
“So a republic, which would be a much more complex constitutional question than the one last year, would be far more vulnerable to a scare campaign and to opposition,” she said.
“So unless you had absolutely unanimous support across the board and a strong reason for doing it, it would fail,” she added.
Philip Benwell, national chair of the Australian Monarchist League, which wants to maintain Australia’s constitutional link to Britain, said he was standing near Thorpe at the Canberra reception when she started yelling at the king and demanding a treaty with Indigenous Australians.
“I think she alienated a lot of sympathy. If anything, she’s helped to strengthen our support,” Benwell said.
Thorpe has been criticized, including by some Indigenous leaders, for shouting at the king and failing to show respect.
Thorpe was unrepentant. She rejected criticism that her aggressive approach toward the monarch was violent.
“I think what was unacceptable is the violence in that room, of the King of England praising himself, dripping in stolen wealth, that’s what’s violent,” Thorpe told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “The violence is from the colonizer being in that room asserting his authority, being paid for by every taxpayer in this country.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants Australia to become a republic but has ruled out a referendum during his first three-year term. A vote remains a possibility if his center-left Labor Party wins elections due by May next year.
Australians decided in a referendum in 1999 to retain Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. That result is widely regarded to have been the consequence of disagreement about how a president would be chosen rather than majority support for a monarch.
Sydney University royal historian Cindy McCreery suspects Australia is not yet ready to make the change.
“There's interest in becoming a republic, but I think what we may forget is that logistically speaking we're not going to have a referendum on that issue any time soon," McCreery said.
“I, as a historian, think that it's probably not realistic to expect a successful referendum on a republic until we've done more work on acknowledging our ... complicated history,” she said.
“Becoming a republic doesn't mean that we've somehow thrown off British colonialism. It hopefully has meant that we're engaging with our own history in an honest and thoughtful way,” she added.
Charles and Camilla’s Tuesday began watching Indigenous dancers perform at a Sydney Indigenous community center. The couple used tongs to cook sausages at a community barbecue lunch at the central suburb of Parramatta and later shook the hands of well-wishers for the last time of their visit outside the Sydney Opera House. Their final engagement was an inspection of navy ships on Sydney Harbor in an event known as a fleet review.
Charles's trip to Australia was scaled down because he is undergoing cancer treatment. He arrives in Samoa on Wednesday.
A helicopter flies with a giant Australian flag over the harbor ahead of Britain's King Charles III arrival at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, Pool)
Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla meets the crowd as they attend the Premier's Community BBQ on Tuesday Oct. 22, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Brook Mitchell/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla view a sheep dog demonstration during the Premier's Community BBQ on Tuesday Oct. 22, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Brook Mitchell/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's King Charles III, center, views a sheep dog as he attends the Premier's Community BBQ on Tuesday Oct. 22, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Brook Mitchell/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's King Charles III receives a hug during a visit to the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence on Tuesday Oct. 22, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Lisa Maree Williams/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's King Charles III, center, is assisted by New South Wales Premier Chris Minns, left, while Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese walks behind during his visit at the Homes NSW Cowper Street development in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, Pool)
Britain's King Charles III wears a protective hat as he visits the Homes NSW Cowper Street development in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, Pool)
Members of the public wait for Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla to arrive to attend the Premier's Community BBQ on Tuesday Oct. 22, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Brook Mitchell/Pool Photo via AP)
Members of the public wait for Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla to arrive to attend the Premier's Community BBQ on Tuesday Oct. 22, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Brook Mitchell/Pool Photo via AP)
Members of the public wait for Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla to arrive to attend the Premier's Community BBQ on Tuesday Oct. 22, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Brook Mitchell/Pool Photo via AP)
Members of the public wait for Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla to arrive to attend the Premier's Community BBQ on Tuesday Oct. 22, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Brook Mitchell/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's King Charles III, left, and Queen Camilla arrives to attend the Premier's Community BBQ on Tuesday Oct. 22, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Brook Mitchell/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's King Charles III watches a performance by the Mui Mui Bumer Gedlam group during a visit to the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence on Tuesday Oct. 22, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Lisa Maree Williams/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's King Charles III, right, visits the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence on Tuesday Oct. 22, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Lisa Maree Williams/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's King Charles III, right, watches a performance by the Brogla Dance Academy group during a visit to the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence on Tuesday Oct. 22, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Lisa Maree Williams/Pool Photo via AP)
King Charles III, center, participates in a traditional smoking ceremony conducted by community representatives from the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation during a visit to the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence on Tuesday Oct. 22, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Lisa Maree Williams/Pool Photo via AP)
