Asian shares advance after Wall Street gets a lift from hopes for a Fed
rate cut
[November 25, 2025] By
ELAINE KURTENBACH
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares mostly gained on Tuesday after U.S. stocks
rallied on hopes the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates soon.
U.S. futures edged lower and oil prices also declined.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was nearly unchanged at 48,628.85, after reopening
from a holiday.
A plunge in technology giant SoftBank's shares weighed on the market. It
fell 10.3% on concerns that returns from its heavy investments in OpenAI
may be threatened by the next generation Gemini artificial intelligenc e
model that Google launched last week.
In South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.3% to 3,859.12. Taiwan's Taiex jumped
1.5%.
Chinese markets also advanced. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng climbed 0.4%
to 25,821.47, while the Shanghai Composite index jumped 0.9% to
3,872.45.
E-commerce giant Alibaba, which was due to report its earnings late
Tuesday, gained 1.6%.
Australia's S&P/ASX rebounded to edge 0.1% higher, closing at 8,537.00.
U.S. markets will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. A
day later, it’s on to the rush of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The U.S. stock market rallied on Monday, at the start of a week with
shortened trading because of the Thanksgiving holiday.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.5% to 6,705.12 in one of its best days since the
summer. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% to 46,448.27, and the
Nasdaq composite jumped 2.7% to 22,872.01.
Stocks got a lift from rising hopes that the Fed will cut its main
interest rate again at its next meeting in December, a move that could
boost the economy and investment prices.
The market also benefited from strength for stocks caught up in the
artificial-intelligence frenzy. Alphabet, which has been getting praise
for its newest Gemini AI model, rallied 6.3% and was one of the
strongest forces lifting the S&P 500. Nvidia rose 2.1%.
[to top of second column] |
People cross a street near an electronic stock board showing Japan's
Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Tokyo.
(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
 Monday’s gains followed sharp swings
in recent weeks, not just day to day but also hour to hour, caused
by uncertainty about what the Fed will do with interest rates and
whether too much money is pouring into AI and creating a bubble. All
the worries are creating the biggest test for investors since an
April sell-off, when President Donald Trump shocked the world with
his “Liberation Day” tariffs.
Despite all the recent fear, the S&P 500 remains within 2.7% of its
record set last month.
Several tests for the market lie ahead this week. One of the biggest
will arrive Tuesday when the U.S. government will deliver data on
inflation at the wholesale level in September.
Economists expect it to show a 2.6% rise in prices from a year
earlier, the same as in August. A higher-than-expected reading could
deter the Fed from cutting its main interest rate in December for a
third time this year, because lower rates can worsen inflation. Some
Fed officials have already argued against a December cut in part
because inflation has stubbornly remained above their 2% target.
Traders are nevertheless betting on a nearly 85% probability that
the Fed will cut rates next month, up from 71% on Friday and from
less than a coin flip’s chance seen a week ago, according to data
from CME Group.
In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 25
cents to $58.59 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard,
shed 30 cents to $62.42 per barrel.
The dollar fell to 156.70 Japanese yen from 156.91 yen. The euro
slipped to $1.1517 from $1.1521.
Bitcoin fell 1.1% to $88,100. It was near $125,000 last month.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
