Stock market today: World shares shrug off Wall St blues as investors eye corporate earnings

Shares were broadly higher in Europe and Asia on Monday as investors focused on the latest flurry of corporate earnings.

The upbeat start to the week contrasted with the gloom on Wall Street after big technology stocks logged their worst week since the Covid crash in 2020. But US futures were higher, with the contracts for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both up 0.3%.

A slew of companies are due to release reports on their performance in the first quarter this week.

European shares opened mixed. Germany's DAX added 0.2% to 17,780.33 and the FTSE 100 climbed 1% to 7,977.83. In Paris, the CAC 40 edged 0.1% lower to 8,015.27.

In Asian trading, Hong Kong's Hang Seng led the region, gaining 1.8% to 16,511.69. But the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.7% to 3,051.76 after the People's Bank of China kept its 1-year and 5-year loan prime rates unchanged.

By RSS/AP

The Chinese central bank is waiting to see if more stimulus is needed after the economy expanded at a faster-than-expected 5.3% annual rate in the January-March quarter, analysts said.

"The first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) read has been promising, but pockets of weakness remain in its domestic demand alongside property sector challenges," Yeap Jun Rong of IG said in a commentary. "Any signs of fizzling out in recovery momentum ahead could still raise calls for further cuts later this year."

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 added 1% to 37,438.61 and the yen weakened further. The US dollar rose to 154.69 yen from 154.59 yen, trading at levels not seen since 1990.

The Kospi in South Korea jumped 1.3% to 2,629.44.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.1% to 7,649.20.

On Friday, the S&P 500 dropped 0.9% to close out its third straight losing week. It ended 5.5% below its record set late last month, the longest losing streak since October, when it broke into a romp that sent it to a string of records this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq composite fell 2%.

The market's worst performers included several stocks that had been its biggest stars. Super Micro Computer lost more than a fifth of its value, dropping 23.1%. The company, which sells server and storage systems used in AI and other computing, had soared nearly 227% for the year coming into the day.

Tech stocks in the S&P 500 broadly lost 7.3% last week for their worst performance since March 2020 as some global giants reported discouraging trends. ASML, a Dutch company that's a major supplier to the semiconductor industry, reported weaker-than-expected orders for the start of 2024, for example.

Markets have been hit by the growing recognition that the Federal Reserve will likely keep interest rates higher for longer than investors had hoped. High rates hurt prices for all kinds of investments and some of the hardest hit tend to be those seen as the most expensive and which make investors wait the longest for big growth. That can make tech stocks vulnerable.

Fed officials are adamant that they want to see additional proof inflation is heading down toward their 2% target before lowering the Fed's main interest rate, which is at its highest level since 2001.

Because interest rates look unlikely to offer much help in the near term, companies are under even more pressure to deliver growth in profits.

In the oil market, US benchmark crude oil shed 92 cents to $81.30 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 12 cents on Friday, to $82.22 per barrel.

A barrel of Brent crude gave up 95 cents to $86.35 per barrel. On Friday, it pulled back to $87.29 after briefly leaping above $90 overnight on worries about fighting in the Middle East. Iranian troops fired air defences at a major air base and a nuclear site during an apparent Israeli drone attack, raising worries in the market.