Stock market today: Asian stocks trade mostly higher after S&P 500, Nasdaq hit new records

TOKYO (AP) — Asian stocks were mostly higher Tuesday after Wall Street indexes hit new milestones.

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

“Risk-taking will likely remain more cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve chairman’s testimony and the release of key US inflation data this week,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market analyst at IG.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hit record highs, ending the day up 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up early gains to close 0.1% lower.

Wall Street stock indexes have been steadily gaining value over the past few months, helping the S&P 500 reach 35 records this year.

“The current market is positive and stable to an almost unprecedented degree,” said Mark Hackett, head of investment research at Nationwide. “It’s extremely rare to see this type of consistent returns with near zero volatility.”

Gains in technology stocks, including several chipmakers, mitigated declines in communications services, energy and other sectors of the S&P 500. Nvidia rose 1.9%, Broadcom gained 2.5% and Advanced Micro Devices ended the day up 3.9%.

Specialty glass maker Corning reported the biggest market gain on Monday, rising 12% after raising its sales forecast.

Troubled planemaker Boeing rose 0.5% after agreeing to plead guilty to criminal fraud charges related to twin 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people. The government found the company violated an agreement that shielded it from prosecution for more than three years.

Entertainment giant Paramount Global fell 5.3%, the biggest drop among S&P 500 stocks, after it agreed to merge with Skydance.

In total, the S&P 500 rose 5.66 points to 5,572.85. The Nasdaq gained 50.98 points to 18,403.74. The Dow Jones fell 31.08 points to 39,344.79.

Traders are eagerly awaiting several earnings reports this week, including an update from Delta Air Lines due on Thursday.

JPMorgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo are set to report earnings on Friday. The latest news for banks could give Wall Street a clearer picture of how consumers are coping with increased debt and whether banks are worried about payments and potential delays.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell addresses Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. The central bank is keeping its benchmark interest rate at its highest level in more than two decades to tame inflation.

The Fed aims to bring inflation down 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 remains relatively strong amid a solid job market and consumer spending.

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

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

Inflation is hovering around 3% by most measures. That has prompted the Fed to become more cautious and has tempered expectations about how many interest-rate cuts it expects this year. Most experts expect the Fed to cut interest rates once this year, but not before September. The Fed holds its next monetary policy meeting later this month.

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

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

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar rose to 161.00 Japanese yen from 160.78 yen.

Analysts said the euro was showing stability despite high political uncertainty following the recent French election. The result is seen as better than a potentially more disruptive outcome with a majority victory for the far right or far left, they said.

The euro cost $1.0826, not much different from the $1.0828 rate.

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

Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press