Stock market today: World shares gain after Wall St rally

By ELAINE KURTENBACH
AP Business Writer

European shares opened little changed and Asian shares were mostly higher Monday after a widespread rally on Wall Street partly spurred by Apple’s report of better profit than expected.

Tokyo’s benchmark fell while markets in China advanced. U.S. futures were flat and oil prices rose.

A report Friday showed hiring accelerated across the economy by much more than expected last month. The government’s jobs report also showed workers won bigger pay raises than expected.

Such trends helped calm worries that a recession is looming, even as time grows short on reaching an agreement on the U.S. government debt ceiling, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

“But anxiety is building early this time and shifted into high gear last week after Secretary Yellen warned that a default could occur as soon as June 1,” he said.

Early Monday, Germany’s DAX was unchanged at 15,962.77 while the CAC 40 in Paris edged 0.1% higher, to 7,437.81. Markets in Britain were closed for a holiday.

The future for the S&P 500 was nearly unchanged while the contract for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that there are “no good options” for the United States to avoid an economic “calamity” if Congress fails to raise the nation’s borrowing limit of $31.381 trillion in the coming weeks.

The government would lack the funds to pay its obligations, she said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week,”

“And it’s widely agreed that financial and economic chaos would ensue,” Yellen said.

She did not rule out President Joe Biden bypassing lawmakers and acting on his own to try to avert a first-ever federal default. If the government can’t borrow money to keep paying its bills for an extended period, there could be millions of job losses, businesses left bankrupt, crashes piling up across financial markets and lasting economic pain.

On Monday in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 shed 0.7% to 28,949.88.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 1.2% to 20,297.03 and the Shanghai Composite index surged 1.8% to 3,395.00. South Korea’s KOSPI climbed 0.5% to 2,513.21, while the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.8% in Sydney to 7,276.50.

India’s Sensex gained 1.2% and Taiwan’s Taiex picked up 0.5%.

On Wall Street Friday, the S&P 500 jumped 1.8% while the Dow industrials gained 1.7%. The Nasdaq composite index rallied 2.2%.

The strong U.S. employment data added to worries that persisting high inflation may push the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates further, adding to pressure on an already slowing economy.

The Fed said Wednesday it wasn’t sure of its next move after raising its benchmark rate to a range of 5% to 5.25%, up from virtually zero early last year. Many traders expect the Fed to hold rates steady at its next meeting in June, which would be the first time that’s happened in more than a year.

High interest rates have already caused cracks in the U.S. banking system. Last week, regulators seized First Republic Bank, which became the third large U.S. bank failure to hit since March.

The industry’s turmoil has raised uncertainty, for if banks pull back on their lending, like rate increases that could further stifle the economy.

Apple, the most valuable stock on Wall Street, gained 4.7% on Friday, helping to lift the S&P 500. The iPhone maker’s earnings and revenue fell but still exceeded analysts’ muted expectations.

In other trading Monday, benchmark U.S. crude oil picked up $1.27 to $72.61 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped $2.78 on Friday to $71.34 per barrel.

Brent crude, the international pricing standard, added $1.25 to $76.55 per barrel.

The dollar rose to 134.98 Japanese yen from 134.88 yen. The euro climbed to $1.1035 from $1.1023.