WASHINGTON, April 20 (AP): Shares were mostly lower in Europe and Asia on Thursday after they barely budged on Wall Street following a mixed batch of earnings reports from big US companies.
US futures and oil prices also declined.
Germany’s DAX slipped 0.9 per cent to 15,761.62 and the CAC 40 in Paris gave up 0.4per cent to 7,520.78. Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 0.3 per cent to 7,877.39.
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The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4per cent and that for the S and P 500 was 0.5 per cent lower.
Japan reported that its trade deficit narrowed in March as exports rose more than expected, helped by a nearly 40per cent increase in the value of vehicle exports.
But exports to China fell, reflecting the slow pace of the recovery from pandemic disruptions. Growth in imports also slowed.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 added 0.2 per cent to 28,657.57 and Australia’s S and P/ASX 200 was virtually unchanged at 7,362.20.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was unchanged at 20,365.84. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.5 per cent to 2,563.11 and the Shanghai Composite index declined 0.1 per cent to 3,367.03.
On Wednesday, the S and P 500 inched down by less than 0.1 per cent, and the Dow industrials fell 0.2 per cent.
The Nasdaq composite edged up less than 0.1 per cent.
Tesla weighed heavily on the market after the electric-vehicle company cut prices for its two top-selling models, its fourth price cut in the US this year.
That could signal that Tesla is trying to spur sales amid shifting US tax credits for electric vehicles. Tesla fell 2 per cent before releasing its latest earnings report after trading closed.
Netflix slumped 3.2 per cent after reporting weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit topped forecasts.
Elevance Health dropped 5.3 per cent despite reporting stronger profit and revenue than expected.
So far, most companies have been beating profit forecasts to clear a bar that was set particularly low given the pressure on profits from high inflation and elevated interest rates that are slowing parts of the economy.
Particular focus has been on the health of banks after higher interest rates helped lead to the second- and third-largest US bank failures in history last month.
The industry’s giants have largely reported better results than expected, with several saying they benefited from the industry’s turmoil as customers moved deposits to them and away from smaller banks that seemed at greater risk.
The fear was how much pain smaller, regional banks would show in their quarterly reports, including how many of their customers fled. Another fear is that smaller and mid-sized banks could curtail lending, clamping the brakes even tighter on the economy. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that several of its 12 regional districts have noticed banks tightening lending standards recently.
Central banks around the world have been raising rates at a furious pace for more than a year, and the wide expectation is for the Federal Reserve to raise short-term US rates again at its meeting next month. High rates can stifle inflation, but only by slowing the entire economy, raising the risk of a recession and hurting prices for investments.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.59 per cent from 3.58 per cent late Tuesday.
The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, rose to 4.25 per cent from 4.20 per cent.
In other trading, benchmark US crude oil slipped USD 1.30 to per cent USD77.94 per barrel. It lost USD 1.66 to USD 79.24 per barrel on Wednesday.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, lost USD 1.32 to USD 81.80 per barrel.
The US dollar fell to 134.56 Japanese yen from 134.72 yen. The euro was unchanged at USD 1.0956.
