- 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
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- Israel observes Yom Kippur amid firestorm over Lebanon strikes
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- US, European markets rise before Boeing unveils sweeping job cuts
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- Germany win in Nations League as 10-man Dutch rescue point
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- Israel says fired at 'threat' near UN position in Lebanon
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- 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
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- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
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- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
Asian markets mixed after Wall St record, Shanghai extends rally
Asian stocks were mixed Thursday following another record on Wall Street, with strong earnings, a resilient US economy and Chinese moves to boost the country's markets playing up against fading hopes for an early Federal Reserve interest rate cut.
Fresh comments from US monetary policymakers pushing back against reducing borrowing costs too early were unable to overshadow a string of forecast-beating reports from top firms this season including Amazon and Facebook parent Meta.
With traders now resigned to fewer rate cuts this year, they are also focusing on readings showing that US growth remained on track and jobs were still being created, all as inflation came down.
In the latest moves to temper bets on a dovish Fed pivot, the bank's Richmond president Tom Barkin said he was "very supportive of being patient" on announcing the first reduction, citing the strong metrics.
And governor Adriana Kugler added that she wanted to wait until more data was available before moving.
While figures continue to show the inflation battle is being won, decision-makers are reluctant to cut too early in case prices bounce back.
Still, New York traders were in a good mood, helped by healthy results from Disney, auto giant Ford and Chipotle Mexican Grill.
That helped the S&P 500 push to a new all-time high within a whisker of the 5,000-point mark, while the Nasdaq and Dow were also well up.
"Higher rates don't appear to burden consumers or corporations significantly, enabling the Fed to wait longer to ensure inflation control without disrupting the stock market's momentum," said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.
"It's becoming increasingly evident that equities are unfazed and indifferent to the Federal Reserve's less dovish stance, which suggests that unless there is a substantial deterioration in the labour market, the central bank's baseline expectation for 2024 includes three rate cuts."
Asia fluctuated, though Shanghai was again sharply higher heading into the Lunar New Year break.
The market built on the almost five percent gains over the previous two days as investors cheered a number of pledges from Beijing to staunch a long-running rout.
- 'A new broom' -
There was also positive reaction to news that the chairman of China's securities regulator, Yi Huiman, had been replaced after overseeing a sell-off that has wiped trillions off companies' valuations.
He will be replaced by banking veteran Wu Qing.
"This is long overdue in my opinion, if one chief cannot do the job, then maybe we should give someone else a chance," Jiang Liangqing, of Zhuhai Greenbamboo Private Fund Management, said.
"At the minimum, a new broom sweeps clean and he could be more bold in taking action instead of just words."
Shujin Chen of Jefferies Financial Group added that the decision "signals more attention to capital markets" by President Xi Jinping.
The announcement follows a series of measures and pledges aimed at boosting confidence on trading floors, including curbs on short-selling purchases by state-owned enterprises and share-buying by China's "national team".
Still, observers warned the moves would not solve the country's deeper economic problems -- particularly in the property sector -- which needed to be addressed to fully restore optimism.
Data showing China's consumer prices fell for a fourth straight month in January -- and at the sharpest pace since 2009 -- highlighted the hard work leaders face in turning the ship around.
There were also gains in Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul and Manila, though Singapore, Mumbai, Bangkok and Wellington dropped.
Hong Kong was dealt a blow lower by a more than six percent dive in market heavyweight Alibaba, which was hit by a worse-than-expected earnings report that overshadowed a huge stock buyback.
- Key figures around 0700 GMT -
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 2.1 percent at 36,863.28 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.5 percent at 15,848.25
Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.3 percent at 2,865.90 (close)
Dollar/yen: UP at 148.75 yen from 148.16 yen on Wednesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2630 from $1.2628
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0783 from $1.0777
Euro/pound: UP at 85.37 pence from 85.32 pence
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 percent at $74.26 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.6 percent at $79.65 per barrel
New York - Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 38,677.36 points (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 percent at 7,628.75 (close)
M.Thompson--AMWN