Stock market today: Asian shares mostly decline after Nasdaq ticks to a record high

Asian shares mostly fell Tuesday, even as most US stock indexes finished higher, especially technology issues like Nvidia.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.2 per cent in early trading to 39,141.08. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.2 per cent to 7,851.90. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.4 per cent to 2,732.26. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dove 2.1 per cent to 19,233.09, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.4 per cent to 3,159.90.

In Asia, investors are focused on signs about the health of Chinese economy. S&P Global Market Intelligence raised this year's growth forecast to 4.8 per cent from 4.7 per cent in April, but stressed it was not overly optimistic.

“The overall outlook of a tepid economic recovery remains unchanged, with the expansion supported by enhanced policy stimulus, strengthening external demand and gradually improving private-sector confidence,” it said in a report.

Monday on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.1 per cent to 5,308.13 and pulled within 0.02 of its record set last week. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.7 per cent to 16,794.87 to set its own all-time high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.5 per cent to 39,806.77 in its first trading after closing above the 40,000 level for the first time on Friday.

Norwegian Cruise Line helped lead the market and steamed 7.6 per cent higher after giving financial forecasts for the year that topped analysts' expectations. It said demand is growing for cruises, and some of its competitors gained in its wake. Carnival rose 7.3 per cent, and Royal Caribbean Group gained 4.1 per cent.

All three of the big US stock indexes set records last week in large part because of revived hopes that the Federal Reserve will be able to cut interest rates this year as inflation hopefully cools. More reports showing big US companies are earning fatter profits than expected also boosted stock prices.

This upcoming week has few top-tier economic reports, like last week's headliner that showed inflation may finally be heading back in the right direction following a discouraging start to the year. But some potentially market-moving reports on corporate profits are on the calendar.

Atop them all is Nvidia, whose rocket ride amid a frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology has been a major reason for the S&P 500's gains over the last year. It will report its latest quarterly results on Wednesday, and expectations are high. Analysts are forecasting its revenue more than tripled to USD 24.59 billion from a year earlier.

Its stock climbed 2.5 per cent to bring its gain for the year so far to 91.4 per cent.

Several retailers are also on the schedule, including Lowe's on Tuesday, Target on Wednesday and Ross Stores on Thursday. They could offer more details on how well spending by US households is holding up. Pressure has been rising on them amid still-high inflation, even if it's not as bad as before, and cracks seem to be most visible among the lowest-income customers.

In the bond market, yields ticked a bit higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.44 per cent from 4.42 per cent late Friday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, ticked up to 4.84 per cent from 4.83 per cent.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday will release the minutes from its latest meeting, where it again held its main interest rate at the highest level in more than two decades.

The hope is that the Fed can manage the delicate balancing act of grinding down the economy through high interest rates by just enough to get inflation under control but not so much that it causes a painful recession.

Traders are putting an 88 per cent probability on the Fed cutting its main interest rate at least once this year, according to data from CME Group.

In other trading, benchmark US crude fell 40 cents to USD 79.40 a barrel. Brent crude the international standard declined 36 cents to USD 83.35 a barrel. There were some gains earlier following the death of Iran's president in a helicopter crash.

The US dollar edged up to 156.47 Japanese yen from 156.

Catch all the updates of the May 21 session on Dalal Street here. For all other news related to business, politics, tech and auto, visit Zeebiz.com.