HONG KONG (AP) — European markets opened higher Wednesday, while Asian shares followed Wall Street lower as momentum cooled for the torrid “Trump trade” that swept U.S. markets after Donald Trump’s presidential victory.
The German DAX fell 0.2% to 19,067.59. In Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.2% to 7,242.33. Britain’s FTSE 100 also rose 0.1% to 8,035.44.
Futures for the S&P 500 were up 0.2% and those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.3%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 1.7% to 38,721.66, while wholesale inflation hit the highest level since July last year. The business goods price index, which measures price changes of goods traded in the business sector, rose 3.4% year on year in October, according to data from the Bank of Japan. The increase was partly attributed to the decline of the Japanese yen against the US dollar.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 2.6% to 2,417.08. Shares of Samsung Electronics fell 4.5% in Wednesday trading, hitting their lowest level in more than four years.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell for a fourth day, down 0.1% to 19,823.45. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.5% to 3,439.28.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.8% to 8,193.40.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 5,983.99, a day after setting its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9% to 43,910.98, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1% to 19,281.40.
Stocks have risen broadly since last week on expectations that Trump’s preference for lower tax rates and other policies could mean faster economic growth, as well as higher U.S. national debt and higher inflation. Some parts of the market rose with particularly high-quality fuels, such as smaller US stocks that benefited most from Trump’s ‘America First’ ideas.
They gave back some of their big gains on Tuesday, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell a market-leading 1.8%. Even Tesla, run by Trump’s ally Elon Musk, sank. It fell 6.1%, for its first loss since before Election Day.
A jump in Treasury yields also added pressure to the stock market as trading in U.S. Treasury bonds resumed after Monday’s Veterans Day. The yield on the 10-year government bond rose to 4.42% on Tuesday from 4.31% late Friday, which is a notable move for the bond market.
Treasury yields have risen sharply since September, largely because the US economy has remained much more resilient than feared. The hope is that it can remain solid as the Federal Reserve continues to cut rates to keep the labor market afloat, having helped bring inflation back close to its 2% target.
Part of the interest rate increase is also due to Trump. He’s talking about tariffs and other policies that economists say could drive up inflation and U.S. government debt. That puts upward pressure on Treasury yields and could hamper the Fed’s plans to cut rates. While lower rates can stimulate the economy, they can also give more fuel to inflation.
In the crypto market, bitcoin rose to a new all-time high before retreating. Trump has embraced cryptocurrencies in general and vowed to make his country the crypto capital of the world. Bitcoin rose to $89,995 before falling back to $89,500, according to CoinDesk. It started the year under $43,000.
In energy trading, U.S. benchmark crude rose 3 cents to $68.15 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 6 cents to $71.83 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar rose from 154.51 yen to 155.09 Japanese yen. The euro was at $1.0607, down from $1.0625.
