Stock Market Today: World Stocks Mostly Down in Holiday Trading, with Half-Day Prices for U.S. Markets – WSB-TV Channel 2

BANGKOK — (`) — Stocks were mixed in Europe and Asia on Friday after U.S. markets were closed for Thanksgiving.

Germany’s DAX was almost unchanged at 15,998.44, while the CAC 40 in Paris was also unchanged at 7,279.03. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4% to 7,453.40.

On Wall Street, futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% ahead of Friday’s half-day trading session. On Wednesday, before the holiday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and the Dow rose 0.5%. The Nasdaq gained 0.5%.

“Both the government and BOJ will be concerned about higher-than-expected inflation,” Robert Carnell and Min Joo Kang of ING Economics said in a commentary. This will likely lead to the central bank adjusting its extremely lax monetary policy in the new year, it said.

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It was a quiet week for data releases, but Japan reported consumer inflation rose for the first time in four months, with sharp increases in food prices and hotel prices as tourism rose sharply. The consumer price index rose 3.3% year-on-year in October, up from 3% in September. This contradicts the Bank of Japan’s forecasts that price pressures will ease towards the end of the year.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.5% to 33,625.53.

Chinese stocks fell after recent gains driven by expectations of greater government support for debt-burdened real estate developers. Shares of Country Garden, one of the largest stocks, fell 7.6% after gaining 16% the previous day.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng fell 2% to 17,559.42. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.7% to 3,040.97.

South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.7% to 2,496.63, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% to 7,040.80

In Bangkok, the SET fell 0.7%, while Taiwan’s Taiex fell less than 0.1%.

Investors are watching to see how American retailers will fare as the holiday shopping season begins with Black Friday amid growing concerns that spending could slow under pressure from dwindling savings, rising credit card debt and inflation.

Recent quarterly results from a range of retailers from Walmart to Best Buy to Saks Fifth Avenue suggest a moderation in consumer spending, even as inflation eases and employment remains robust.

As price pressures ease, investors have become more optimistic that the Federal Reserve may be done raising interest rates to curb inflation and may even consider cutting rates.

Fed officials said the outlook for the economy remained uncertain and decisions on interest rates would depend on incoming reports. The Fed will get another important update next week when the government releases its October report for a key inflation measure tracked by the central bank.

In other trading Friday, U.S. crude oil lost 67 cents to $76.43 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, the international pricing standard, was unchanged at $81.25 a barrel.

The US dollar rose to 149.58 Japanese yen from 149.54 yen. The euro rose to $1.0913 from $1.0906.