Stock market today: World shares are mixed following a rebound on Wall Street

BANGKOK (AP) — World shares were mixed Thursday ahead of a decision by the European Central Bank on interest rates that was expected to yield at least a quarter percentage point cut to the current 3.25% benchmark.

Analysts said the monetary authority for the 20 euro currency countries in the European Union was bound to act now that inflation has fallen to target levels and growth is slowing.

Germany's DAX edged 0.1% higher, to 20,423.73, while the CAC 40 in Paris was up less than 0.1%, at 7,426.24. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.2% to 8,321.29.

The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.2%.

Chinese shares rose as leaders met in Beijing to set economic plans and targets for the coming year. The government announced plans to expand trial private pension programs to the entire country, beginning Dec. 15.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 1.2% to 20,397.05 and the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.9% to 3,461.50.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index advanced 1.2% to 39,849.14, led by buying of technology shares. Advantest Corp., which makes equipment for testing computer chips, gained 5.1%, while chip maker Tokyo Electron was up 0.6%.

South Korea's Kospi gained 1.6% to 2,482.12 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia slipped 0.3% to 8,330.30.

Taiwan's Taiex climbed 0.6% and the Sensex in India shed 0.3%. The SET in Bangkok edged 0.1% lower.

U.S. stock indexes resumed climbing on Wednesday after an update on inflation appeared to clear the way for more help for the economy from the Federal Reserve.

The S&P 500 rose 0.8% to break its first two-day losing streak in nearly a month. Big Tech stocks helped drive the Nasdaq composite up 1.8% to 20,034.89, its first close above 20,000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, dipped 0.2%.

Inflation in the U.S. ticked up to 2.7% in November from a year earlier from 2.6% in October, fueled by pricier used cars, hotel rooms and groceries. That shows some price pressures remain elevated, but not enough to prevent the Fed from cutting interest rates at its meeting next week.

The Fed began trimming rates in September from a two-decade high to support a slowing job market after getting inflation nearly all the way down to its 2% target. Lower rates would give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments, but they could also provide more fuel for inflation.

Expectations for a series of cuts to rates by the Fed have been one of the main reasons the S&P 500 has set an all-time high 57 times this year, with the latest coming last week.

Albertsons fell 1.5% after filing a lawsuit against Kroger, saying it didn’t do enough for their proposed $24.6 billion merger agreement to win regulatory clearance. A day earlier, judges in separate cases in Oregon and Washington had nixed the supermarket giants’ merger. The grocers contended a combination could have helped them compete with big retailers like Walmart, Costco and Amazon, but critics said it would hurt competition.

In other dealings early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil picked up 28 cents to $70.57 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil, the international standard, gained 27 cents to $73.79 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar rose to 152.52 Japanese yen from 152.46 yen. The euro rose to $1.0518 from $1.0496.

People gather in front of the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

Currency traders talk each others near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A currency trader walks near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Currency traders watch computer monitors near the screens showing the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A currency trader stands near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong judge on Thursday convicted a pro-democracy former lawmaker of rioting during mob violence at a subway station at the height of the city’s anti-government protests in July 2019.

Prosecutors accused Lam Cheuk-ting of provoking a group of about 100 men armed with wooden poles and metal rods who attacked protesters and bystanders at a train station. The men, all clad in white shirts, in contrast with the black worn by protesters, claimed to be protecting their homeland in Yuen Long, a residential district in Hong Kong's New Territories.

Dozens of people, including Lam, were injured in the violence, a key chapter that escalated the protest movement as the public criticized police for their delayed response. The landmark ruling could shape the city's historical narrative of the incident.

Judge Stanley Chan ruled that Lam was not acting as a mediator as he had claimed, but rather was trying to exploit the situation for political gain.

He said Lam's words directed at the white-shirted men had “fanned the flames." Lam, who is already in prison on a national security charge, is expected to be sentenced at a later date.

Chan was still reading out the verdicts for six other lesser-known co-defendants in the same case.

The prosecution alleged the seven defendants had either berated the white-shirted men, used obscene hand gestures, hurled objects or shot jets of water by pointing a hosepipe at them.

The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the rioting charge.

During the trial, Lam said he chose to go to Yuen Long because he hoped his then position as a lawmaker could pressure the police to act quickly. He said he could not leave the scene while fellow residents were in danger. Some defendants who targeted the white-shirted men with a hosepipe argued that they were just trying to stop the attackers from advancing.

The 2019 protests were sparked by a proposed extradition law that would have allowed criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be sent to the mainland for trial. The government withdrew the bill, but the protesters widened their demands to include direct elections for the city’s leaders and police accountability.

The social movement was the biggest challenge to the Hong Kong government since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. In response, Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020, leading to the arrest of many activists. Others were silenced or went into exile.

In November, Lam was sentenced to six years and nine months in jail in the city's biggest national security case.

More than 10,000 people were arrested in connection to the protests for various crimes, such as rioting and participating in an unauthorized assembly. About 10 white-shirted men were convicted in other cases related to the mob violence in July 2019, local media reported.

FILE- A pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, center, gestures with five fingers, signifying the "Five demands - not one less" as he is surrounded by riot police during a news conference to mark one-year anniversary of the Yuen Long subway attack at the subway station in Hong Kong, July 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)