Shares opened lower Thursday in Europe after most Asian benchmarks gained, tracking a Wall Street rally driven by hopes that inflation is heading back in the right direction.
The optimism came from a report Wednesday showing US consumers had to pay prices for gasoline, car insurance, and everything else in April that were 3.4 per cent higher overall than a year earlier, less than March's inflation rate of 3.5 per cent.
The slowdown was a relief after reports for the consumer price index, or CPI, earlier this year had consistently come in worse than expected. The report built on expectations that the Federal Reserve might cut its main interest rate this year, a major preoccupation for most investors.
Asian Indices
In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 1.4 per cent to 38,920.26, even after the government reported that the Japanese economy contracted at a 2 per cent annual rate in the January-March quarter.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 1.6 per cent to 19,376.53. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1 per cent higher, to 3,122.40.In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1.7 per cent to 7,881.30 while South Korea's Kospi climbed 0.8 per cent to 2,753.00.Taiwan's Taiex was up 0.7per cent and the Sensex in India fell 0.4 per cent.
US Indices
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 jumped 1.2 per cent to top its prior high set a month and a half earlier, closing at 5,308.15. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.9 per cent to 39,908.00, and the Nasdaq jumped 1.4 per cent to 16,742.39, adding to its own record set a day earlier.
On the losing end were GameStop and AMC Entertainment, as momentum reversed following their jaw-dropping starts to the week. GameStop fell 18.9 per cent, though it's still up 126.5 per cent for the week so far.AMC Entertainment sank 20 per cent after it said it would issue nearly 23.3 million shares of its stock to wipe out USD 163.9 million in debt.
Another report Wednesday showed no growth in spending at US retailers in April from March. Economists had expected 0.per cent growth.Slowing retail sales could be seen as a positive for markets because it could reduce the upward pressure on inflation. But weaker US consumer spending would erode one of the main pillars keeping the economy out of a recession.
Pressure has grown particularly high in lower-income households.Traders are now forecasting a nearly 95 per cent probability that the Fed will cut its main interest rate at least once this year, according to data from CME Group.
That's up from just below 90 per cent a day before.In other trading early Thursday, US benchmark crude oil picked up 27 cents to USD78.90 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
It gained 61 cents on Wednesday.Brent crude, the international standard, was up 29 cents at USD 83.04 per barrel.The US dollar fell to 154.73 Japanese yen from 154.88 yen. The euro fell to USD 1.0872 from USD 1.0885.
