Stock market today: World shares are mostly higher after Big Tech losses pull Wall St lower

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares opened higher in Europe on Thursday after a mixed session in Asia following a Big Tech-led retreat on Wall Street.

Germany’s DAX advanced 0.7% to 19,394.41 while the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.6% to 7,185.13. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2% to 8,290.37.

The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher.

In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.6% to 38,349.06 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.5% to 8,444.30.

South Korea’s Kospi gained less than 0.1% to 2,504.67 after the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate to relieve pressure on its slowing economy.

The Bank of Korea cut its key rate by a quarter percentage point to 3% and lowered its outlook for the country’s economic growth from to 2.2% from 2.4% for this year and to 1.9% from 2.1% for 2025.

Chinese shares fell as investors sold to lock in profits from recent gains.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 1.2% to 19,366.96 and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.4% to 3,295.70.

U.S. markets will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, and will reopen for a half day on Friday.

Russia’s ruble fell sharply against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday and was trading near its lowest level since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, at 108.01 early Thursday, according to the Russian central bank.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% and the Dow fell 0.3%. The Nasdaq composite, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, fell 0.6%.

The Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy expanded at a healthy 2.8% annual pace from July through September, leaving its initial estimate unchanged. The growth was driven by strong consumer spending and a surge in exports.

Consumers have been driving economic growth, but the latest round of earnings reports from retailers shows a mixed and more cautious picture.

Department store operator Nordstrom fell 8.1% after warning investors about a trend toward weakening sales that started in late October. Clothing retailer Urban Outfitters jumped 18.3% after beating analysts’ third-quarter financial forecasts.

Consumers are feeling the pinch of higher prices: The government’s personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE, rose to 2.3% in October from 2.1% in September.

Overall, inflation has been falling broadly since it peaked more than two years ago. The PCE, which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, was just below 7.3% in June of 2022. Another measure of inflation, the consumer price index, peaked at 9.1% at the same time.

The latest data suggest the decline in inflation is stalling as it nears the Fed’s target of 2%. The central bank started raising its benchmark interest rate from near-zero in early 2022 to a two-decade high by the middle of 2023 and held it there until it began cutting it in September. A second cut followed in November.

Wall Street expects a similar quarter-point cut at the central bank’s upcoming meeting in December, but President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China when he takes office in January. That could raise prices on many products, raising inflation and prompting the Fed to rethink future cuts to interest rates.

In other dealings early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 28 cents to $68.44 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, shed 26 cents to $72.04 per barrel.

The dollar rose to 151.90 Japanese yen from 151.12 yen. The euro fell to $1.0547 from $1.0567.