Asian Shares Up As Wall Street Inches To Stop Losing Streak

Asian benchmarks mostly rose Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, as investor optimism got a perk from a rally on Wall Street that’s on track to break a three-week losing streak, Yuri Kageyama reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.4% to 2,385.55.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 surged nearly 2.0% in morning trading to 27,964.16. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.8% to 6,783.80. South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.4% to 2,385.55.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.3% to 18,986.70, while the Shanghai Composite rose nearly 0.1% to 3,248.76.

Somewhat reassuring to market watchers was Japan’s revised seasonally adjusted real gross domestic product, or GDP, for the second quarter, which was revised upward to an annual rate of 3.5% growth, better than the initial estimate at 2.2%.

Data showed private consumption and business spending are holding up in the world’s third-largest economy, which has managed to grow for three quarters straight. The on-quarter growth for GDP, or the sum of the value of a nation’s products and services, was revised upward to 0.9% from 0.5%, Damian J. Troise, Alex Veiga, and Christopher Rugaber also reported for AP.

Traders clawed back some of their recent losses with Wednesday’s rally, which pushed the S&P 500 up 71.68 points to 3,979.87. The Dow rose 435.98 points to 31,581.28, and the Nasdaq gained 246.99 points to 11,791.90.

The Russell 2000 climbed 39.68 points to 1,832. Technology stocks and retailers made solid gains. Intuit rose 3.9%. Target rose 4.4% after announcing that it is dropping the mandatory retirement age for its CEO position, allowing CEO Brian Cornell to stay for three more years.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 1.8%, its biggest single-day gain in four weeks, with roughly 95% of the stocks in the benchmark index closing higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 2.1%.

Smaller company stocks outgained the broader market, driving the Russell 2000 index 2.2% higher.

Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences interest rates on mortgages and other loans, fell to 3.27% from 3.34% late Tuesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which tends to track expectations for Fed action, fell to 3.45% from 3.51%.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 74 cents to $82.68 a barrel. U.S. crude oil prices slid 5.7% Wednesday. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 68 cents to $88.68 a barrel.

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