- Pogacar emulates icon Coppi with fourth straight Il Lombardia triumph
- UN warns against 'catastrophic' regional conflict
- New Zealand crush Ineos Britannia in America's Cup opener
- Djokovic to face Sinner in blockbuster Shanghai Masters final
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- Sri Lanka seeks to match success in W.Indies T20s
- Sinner reaches Shanghai final, will end year number one
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Sabalenka downs Gauff in three sets to reach Wuhan final
- Israel warns south Lebanon residents to 'not return'
- Sinner tames Machac to reach Shanghai Masters final
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- Hezbollah fires at Israel as wars rage on Yom Kippur
- Analysts warn more detail needed on new China economic measures
- China tees up fresh spending to boost ailing economy
- China says will issue special bonds to boost ailing economy
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Dodgers drop Padres 2-0 to advance in MLB playoffs
- Alexei Navalny wrote he knew he would die in prison in new memoir
- Last-minute legal ruling allows betting on US election
- Despite hurricanes, Floridians refuse to leave 'paradise'
- Israel observes Yom Kippur amid firestorm over Lebanon strikes
- Trump demonizes migrants in dark, misleading speech
- X says 'alert' to manipulation efforts after pro-Russia bots report
- US, European markets rise before Boeing unveils sweeping job cuts
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Comoros shock Tunisia, Salah, Mbeumo strike in AFCON qualifiers
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Germany win in Nations League as 10-man Dutch rescue point
- Undav brace sends Germany to victory against Bosnia
- Israel says fired at 'threat' near UN position in Lebanon
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- Ecuador's last mountain iceman dies at 80
- Milton leaves at least 16 dead, millions without power in Florida
- Senegal set to announce breakaway development agenda: PM
- UN says 2 peacekeepers wounded in south Lebanon explosions
- Injury-hit Australia thrash 'embarrassing' Pakistan at Women's T20 World Cup
- Internal TikTok documents show prioritization of traffic over well-being
- Israel says fired at 'immediate threat' near UN position in Lebanon
- New US coach Pochettino hails Pulisic but worries over workload
- Brazil orders closure of 2,000 betting sites
- UK govt urged to raise pro-democracy tycoon's case with China
- Sculptor Lalanne's animal creations sell for $59 mn
- From Tesla to Trump: Behind Musk's giant leap into politics
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- Supercharged hurricanes trigger 'perfect storm' for disinformation
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
Stock markets mixed as investors digest corporate results
Global stock markets diverged on Wednesday as investors digested a mixed bag of corporate earnings and the likelihood that the US Federal Reserve would wait longer than hoped to cut interest rates.
Wall Street opened higher, with the broad-based S&P 500 nearing the 5,000-point mark.
US stocks rose after automaker Ford beat earnings estimates in results released Tuesday after the bell, while Chipotle Mexican Grill also exceeded market expectations.
Ford shares surged over three percent in early trading while Chipotle jumped seven percent.
The US markets rose despite concern over regional US lender New York Community Bancorp, whose shares were down eight percent after Moody's downgraded its credit rating.
"The broader stock market remains resilient to selling interest," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
In Europe, however, London, Paris and Frankfurt were all in the red in afternoon trading.
In the UK, British housebuilder Barratt agreed to buy competitor Redrow for £2.5 billion ($3.2 billion) amid a housing market that has been hit by higher interest rates.
Shares in Barratt dived seven percent but Redrow surged more than 13 percent.
In Paris, shares in French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies were down three percent after it reported a net profit of $21.4 billion for last year, which was a new record but fell short of expectations.
Norwegian energy group Equinor took a bigger market beating, falling six percent in Oslo after reporting that its annual net profit plunged 59 percent to $11.9 billion on lower oil and gas prices.
The Frankfurt DAX was down after official data showed that industrial production in Germany fell for a seventh straight month in December, capping a year of manufacturing weakness in Europe's largest economy.
Investors were also mulling expectations that the Federal Reserve was unlikely to cut US interest rates as soon as March, as inflation stays high.
"Fed probabilities of a rate cut continue to get pushed out," said Nathan Peterson, director of derivatives analysis at the Schwab Center for Financial Research.
- Shanghai surge -
In Asia, announcements this week out of Beijing continued to light a fire under equities in Shanghai, though Hong Kong succumbed to profit-taking.
Observers warned that Chinese measures aimed at shoring up its economy would not be enough to revive confidence among weary investors, adding that much more need was needed to address a property-sector debt crisis.
Charu Chanana of Saxo Capital "the effect may be temporary as all these are band-aid measures that cannot fix the structural issues that China is facing from property sector to lack of productivity".
Central Huijin Investment, the unit that holds Chinese government stakes in major financial institutions, said it would increase investments in funds.
China's Securities Regulatory Commission meanwhile called on listed firms to ramp up share buybacks, a move that typically boosts stock prices.
Following this, Chinese state media on Wednesday reported that Beijing had removed the head of the CSRC.
- Key figures around 1455 GMT -
New York - Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 38,586.78 points
New York - S&P 500: UP 0.4 percent at 4,972.31
New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 15,662.71
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.5 percent at 7,642.54
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.2 percent at 7,623.72
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.5 percent at 16,946.56
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.2 percent at 4,683.15
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 36,119.92 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.3 percent at 16,081.89 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.4 percent at 2,829.70 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0767 from $1.0758 on Tuesday
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.86 yen from 147.91 yen
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2633 from $1.2600
Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.27 pence from 85.36 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.5 percent at $78.98 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 percent at $73.69 per barrel
burs-lth/js
Ch.Havering--AMWN