Hong Kong (AP) As investors awaited a U.S. jobs data that was due later in the day, Asian equities were neutral Friday after Wall Street pulled back from all-time highs.
Oil prices barely changed, and U.S. futures fell.
The U.S. government’s jobs report on Friday, which will reveal how many individuals employers employed and dismissed last month, will be this week’s market highlight. According to a survey released on Thursday, the number of American workers who applied for unemployment benefits increased last week but is still at historically high levels.
Nikkei 225, the benchmark for Japan, fell 0.9% to 39,042.59. The value of the US dollar dropped from 150.10 to 149.91 Japanese yen.
Stocks in China rose. The Shanghai Composite index jumped 1.2% to 3,410.36, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng gained 1.4% to 19,831.37. The results of an annual meeting on economic policy, which is set for next week, are being watched by the markets.
Holiday ornaments adorn the Wall Street side of the New York Stock Exchange in New York’s Financial District on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
Associated Press/Peter Morgan photo
Policymakers may be more cautious as they prepare for President-elect Donald Trump’s trade and tariff policies, according to analysts.
The Kospi in South Korea fell 0.6% to 2,422.95. The leader of South Korea’s ruling party expressed support on Friday for suspending President Yoon Suk Yeol’s constitutional authority after he imposed martial law and later reversed it earlier this week. Yoon is being urged to step down, is being looked at, and could be impeached.
To express their opposition to Yoon, hundreds of demonstrators have marched through the streets, while thousands of autoworkers and other members of the Korean Metal Workers Union, one of the largest umbrella labor organizations in the nation, started partial strikes on Thursday. According to the union, if Yoon does not step down by Wednesday, its members would start going on extended strikes.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6% to 8,424.00 in other Asian markets.
For the first time since President-elect Donald Trump nominated banker Paul Atkins, who is viewed as a crypto champion, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bitcoin briefly surged above $103,000 on Thursday before reversing after surpassing $100,000.
CoinDesk reports that as of early Friday, the price of bitcoin was 97,941.86.
Even though the S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 6,075.11 on Thursday, it is still expected to end one of its finest years of the new millennium. The Nasdaq composite closed at 19,700.26, down 0.2% from its own record established the day before, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6% to 44,765.71.
One of the main reasons the U.S. economy has avoided a recession that appeared imminent after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to combat inflation is strong consumer spending. However, consumers are currently facing a sluggish job market and still high costs.
When the Fed meets before Christmas, there is a strong expectation that it will lower its main interest rate once more. In an effort to provide more support for the labor market, the Fed started lowering its main interest rate in September after it had reached a two-decade high.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury also decreased slightly on Thursday, from 4.18% late Wednesday to 4.17%.
The benchmark U.S. crude dropped 1 cent to $68.29 a barrel in other transactions early Friday. The global benchmark, Brent crude, fell 7 cents to $72.02 a barrel.
Following French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement on Thursday local time that he intends to remain in office until the end of his term and appoint a new prime minister within days, the euro weakened slightly, falling from $1.05895 to $1.0576. This comes after Prime Minister Michel Barnier and his Cabinet were forced to quit after far-right and left-wing MPs signed a resolution of no confidence over budget disputes.
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Stan Choe, an AP Business Writer, made a contribution.
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