Stock market today: World shares are mixed ahead of Fed meeting, as Germany’s growth stalls

AP Business Writer

TOKYO (AP) — World shares were mixed Tuesday ahead of key central bank meetings around the world, as Germany reported that its economy contracted in the last quarter.

The Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are holding monetary policy meetings this week.

Gross domestic product, the total output of goods and services, rose 0.3% in the second quarter in the 20 countries that use the euro currency, according to official figures released Tuesday by European Union statistics agency Eurostat.

But Germany, the largest eurozone economy, recorded a 0.1% fall in output.

France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3% in early trading to 7,468.36, while Germany’s DAX added 0.4% to 18,387.13. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.5% to 8,254.55. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher.

In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 reversed earlier losses to rise 0.2% and finish at 38,525.95. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5% to 7,953.20. South Korea’s Kospi shed 1% to 2,738.19. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.4% to 17,002.91, while the Shanghai Composite index declined 0.4% to 2,879.30.

“Markets may be having a tough time positioning the central bank meetings this week,” Jing Yi Tan of Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.

In Japan, the government reported the nation’s unemployment rate in June stood at 2.5%, inching down from 2.6% the previous month, and marking the first improvement in five months.

On Monday, The S&P 500 edged up 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite added 0.1%.

Several of Wall Street’s biggest names are set to report their results later this week: Microsoft on Tuesday, Meta Platforms on Wednesday and Apple and Amazon on Thursday. Their stock movements carry extra weight on Wall Street because they are among the market’s largest by total value.

Such Big Tech stocks drove the S&P 500 to dozens of records this year, in part on investors’ frenzy around artificial intelligence technology, but they ran out of momentum this month amid criticism they have grown too expensive, and as alternatives began to look more attractive. Last week, investors found profit reports from Tesla and Alphabet underwhelming, which raised concerns that other stocks in what is known as the “Magnificent Seven” group of Big Tech stocks could also fail to impress.

The Fed will hold a policy meeting on interest rates this week, and an announcement will come Wednesday. Virtually no one expects a move then, but the widespread expectation is that it will begin easing at its following meeting in September.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost 21 cents to $75.60 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 23 cents to $79.55.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged up to 154.82 Japanese yen from 154.00 yen. The euro cost $1.0833, inching up from $1.0826.