Stocks Gain Early, Led By Tech Companies

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are mostly higher Wednesday morning, with the S&P 500 coming off its first down day after seven consecutive gains. The benchmark index rose 0.3%, led by gains in technology companies. The Dow also rose 0.3% and the Nasdaq gained 0.4%. Bank stocks were falling again due to another drop in bond yields. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.32% as the bond market signals it’s less worried about inflation. Overseas markets were mixed, with London, Frankfurt and Shanghai advancing while Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul declined. Oil prices rebounded, pushing benchmark U.S. crude up 0.5%. 

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Global stock markets were mixed Wednesday after Wall Street declined on weaker U.S. services activity.

London, Frankfurt and Shanghai advanced while Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul declined. Wall Street futures were mixed.

Overnight, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index broke a seven-day streak of record closes and fell after the Institute of Supply Management reported service industry activity grew in June at a slower rate than forecast.

The “disappointing drop” suggests the U.S. recovery “is not immune” to global pockets of resurgence of the coronavirus, said Mizuho Bank in a report.

The FTSE 100 in London opened 0.5% higher at 7,136.05. Frankfurt’s DAX gained 0.7% to 15,618.92 while the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.3% to 6,525.16.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 future was up less than 0.1% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off less than 0.1%.

On Tuesday, the S&P lost 0.2% but still is up 15.6% for the year. The Dow shed 0.6% while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2%.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 in Tokyo sank 1% to 28,366.95 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.4% to 27,960.62.

The Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.7% to 3,553.72 after China’s Cabinet announced it would impose stricter data security and other standards on companies that want to join foreign stock exchanges.

The announcement, at a time when Beijing is tightening control over technology industries, is a potential hurdle for Chinese entrepreneurs who have raised billions of dollars abroad. It comes after ride-hailing service Didi Global Inc. was ordered to stop signing up new users and remove its app from online stores while it increases security for customer information.

The Kospi in Seoul retreated 0.6% to 3,285.34 while the S&P-ASX 200 in Sydney gained 0.9% to 7,326.90.

India’s Sensex added 0.1% to 52.933.97. New Zealand, Singapore and Jakarta declined.

Wall Street faltered after ISM reported purchasing managers’ index fell to 60.1 from May’s record 64.0 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 show activity increasing. That was well below the 63.3 expected by forecasters surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.

Travel, hospitality and other services industries have enjoyed a boom as U.S. restrictions on consumer activity ease.

That pushed up U.S. prices, but the latest measure could support the Federal Reserve’s position that the inflation spike is temporary. That could help to reassure investors the Fed and other central banks won’t feel pressure to cool price rises by rolling back economic stimulus.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude gained $1.07 to $74.44 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.79 to $73.37 per barrel on Tuesday. Brent crude, the basis for pricing international oils, added 95 cents to $75.48 per barrel in London. It plunged $2.63 the previous session to $74.53.

The dollar gained to 110.76 yen from Tuesday’s 110.63. The euro was little-changed at $1.1825.