NEW YORK (AP) — Nvidia, the chip company that has become a significant player on Wall Street, is once again on the rise and helping to maintain U.S. indexes near their all-time highs despite a mixed bag of economic reports. In early trading on Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% after reaching a new high for the 31st time this year on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw little change, while the Nasdaq composite was up 0.2%. Following a takeover of Microsoft as the most valuable company on Wall Street, Nvidia saw a 3% increase in its stock price. Darden Restaurants also experienced a 1.4% increase in its stock price after surpassing analysts’ profit expectations.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story is as follows:
HONG KONG (AP) — European markets opened higher on Thursday after a day of mixed trading in Asia due to the closure of U.S. markets in observance of Juneteenth.
In London, the FTSE 100 rose by 0.2% to 8,218.75, with attention on the Bank of England’s upcoming policy rate decision. Despite data showing British inflation falling to the central bank’s target of 2% in May for the first time in almost three years, the bank was expected to maintain its main interest rate at a 16-year high of 5.25%. Germany’s DAX increased by 0.6% to 18,180.98, and the CAC 40 in Paris rose by 0.6% to 7,612.35.
The Swiss National Bank announced a reduction in its main policy rate by 0.25% due to a decrease in inflationary pressure, despite some cost increases in rents, tourism services, and oil products. The new rate of 1.25%, down from 1.5%, will take effect on Friday.
Prior to the reopening of U.S. markets, the future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average remained relatively unchanged, while the S&P 500 showed a 0.4% increase.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index rose by 0.2% to 38,633.02.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped by 0.5% to 18,335.32, while the Hang Seng tech index fell by 1.7% following a 3.7% increase on Wednesday due to Nvidia’s rise. The Shanghai Composite index saw a 0.4% decrease to 3,005.44.
The Chinese yuan hit its lowest point this year, with the central parity rate set at 7.1192 yuan to the U.S. dollar, as reported by the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
The central parity rate is based on a weighted average of pre-market prices, which presents a challenge as China attempts to use monetary policy to boost its economy amid sluggish growth.
The People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng stated at a financial forum in Shanghai that China intends to maintain accommodating monetary policies to support the economy. Despite this announcement and other commentary on market reforms in China, share prices did not show significant movement.
In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 remained stable at 7,769.40, while South Korea’s Kospi rose by 0.4% to 2,807.63.
Elsewhere, Taiwan’s Taiex increased by 0.9%, with Bangkok’s SET falling by 0.5%.
Indonesia’s central bank kept its benchmark rate unchanged at 6.25%. S&P Global Market Intelligence noted that Indonesia’s currency, along with many others in Asia, has depreciated against the dollar, hindering the central bank’s ability to reduce rates.
In energy markets, U.S. benchmark crude oil dropped by 12 cents to $80.59 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude increased by 8 cents to $85.15 per barrel.
The dollar rose to 158.42 Japanese yen from 158.10 yen, while the euro decreased to $1.0721 from $1.0745.
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