TOKYO (AP) — Global stocks were mixed Tuesday ahead of a meeting of the world’s top central banks after Germany said its economy contracted last quarter.
The Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are holding monetary policy meetings this week.
Gross domestic product (total production of goods and services) in the 20 countries that use the euro currency grew 0.3 percent in the second quarter, according to official figures released on Tuesday by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics office.
But in Germany, the euro zone’s largest economy, output fell by 0.1%.
France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3% to 7,468.36 at the open, while Germany’s DAX rose 0.4% to 18,387.13. Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 0.5% to 8,254.55. Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%.
In Asian markets, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei Stock Average reversed a loss the previous day and closed up 0.2% at 38,525.95. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5% to 7,953.20. South Korea’s KOSPI fell 1% to 2,738.19. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.4% to 17,002.91 and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.4% to 2,879.30.
“Markets may be struggling to make headway in making decisions about central bank meetings this week,” Jing Yi Tang of Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.
The Japanese government announced that the unemployment rate in June was 2.5%, down slightly from 2.6% the previous month, marking the first improvement in five months.
On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.1%.
Later this week, several of Wall Street’s biggest companies are scheduled to report earnings: Microsoft on Tuesday, Meta Platforms on Wednesday, Apple and Amazon on Thursday. These companies are the largest in the market by market capitalization, so their stock price movements will have a particularly strong impact on Wall Street.
These big tech stocks have driven the S&P 500 to dozens of record highs this year, fueled in part by investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence technologies, but they have lost steam this month as they face criticism that they are too expensive and alternatives have started to become more attractive. Investors were left disappointed by earnings reports from Tesla and Alphabet last week, raising concerns that other stocks in a group known as the “Magnificent Seven” of big tech stocks could also disappoint.
The Fed is scheduled to meet this week to discuss interest rate policy and make an announcement on Wednesday, and while few expect any changes in policy at that point, there is widespread expectation that easing will begin at the next meeting in September.
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In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell 21 cents to $75.60 a barrel, while the international standard Brent crude fell 23 cents to $79.55.
In the foreign exchange market, the U.S. dollar rose slightly to 154.82 yen from 154.00 yen, and the euro rose slightly to 1.0833 dollars from 1.0826 dollars.
