Bangkok— Global equities were mixed Thursday as Wall Street sold technology stocks, dragging benchmarks down. In early European trade, Germany's DAX rose 0.4% to 17,675.93 while Paris' CAC 40 up 0.2% to 7,970.51. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 7,646.99. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.2%
Later in the day, the Federal Reserve-favored U.S. inflation index was due. Economists predicted it to rise in January, continuing its monthly fluctuations. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.1% to 39,166.19 as manufacturing production fell at the sharpest pace since May 2020, despite rising retail sales.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.2% to 16,511.44 while Shanghai Composite rose 1.9% to 3,015.17. The smaller Shenzhen index rose 3.4% as authorities announced additional market-supporting measures, including financial derivative monitoring.
However, Baidu slid 6.6% after announcing a 48% drop in earnings in the October-December quarter owing to more investment to compete with AI rivals. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.4% to 2,642.36 while the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% to 7,698.70. Bangkok's SET fell 0.4% and India's Sensex rose 0.1%.
The S&P 500 fell 0.2% on Wednesday, extending its tranquil run after reaching a record last week. The Dow industrials fell 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.5% a day after approaching its 2021 record.
After a study suggested the U.S. economy expanded slower in late 2023 than expected, bond rates fell. The economy defies recession predictions despite high interest rates aimed to lower inflation. Nvidia fell 1.3% and Alphabet fell 1.8%, two of the market's biggest drops. They're among a few Big Tech stocks that have driven the S&P 500 to record highs.
After announcing better profits than experts expected, eBay climbed 7.9%, limiting market losses. Taser, body camera, and other equipment maker Axon Enterprise reported a better-than-expected earnings, sending its shares up 13.8%.
Coinbase rose 0.8% after gaining earlier in the day to continue its impressive run as bitcoin rallies. Bitcoin has gained popularity thanks to new exchange-traded funds, with BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin fund swiftly reaching $7 billion in assets. Bitcoin momentarily reached $64,000 Wednesday for the first time since 2021. After gaining over 40% this year, it's approaching its peak of over $69,000. It traded at $63,385.00 Thursday morning.
In other trade Thursday, New York Mercantile Exchange electronic crude oil rose 34 cents to $78.21 per barrel. International benchmark Brent crude fell 40 cents to $82.16 a barrel. US dollar decreased to 149.75 Japanese JPY from 150.69. The euro jumped from $1.0834 to $1.0843.
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