World shares swing higher after a wobbly day on Wall Street
[October 15, 2025] By
ELAINE KURTENBACH
BANGKOK (AP) — Shares swung higher Wednesday in Europe and Asia,
supported by buying of technology shares, as hopes for a U.S. interest
rate cut helped to offset worries over simmering trade tensions between
Washington and Beijing.
Gold rose to new highs, hitting $4,217 per ounce. The precious metal has
soared nearly 60% in 2025 as investors seek a hedge against a long list
of uncertainties, including higher tariffs and the economy.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled Tuesday that the Fed is
slightly more worried about the job market, raising expectations that
the central bank will come through with another rate hike.
“Rising downside risks to employment have shifted our assessment of the
balance of risks,” he said at a meeting of the National Association of
Business Economics in Philadelphia.
Traders took heart from his words, given the lack of fresh data due to
the U.S. government shutdown, “reading Powell like a haiku — every
pause, every syllable weighed for hidden meaning,” Stephen Innes of SPI
Asset Management said in a commentary.
“The message, once decoded, was clear enough: two rate cuts aren’t just
a possibility, they’re the main course,” he said.
The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.5% while that for the Dow Jones
Industrial Average gained 0.3%.
Germany's DAX edged 0.1% higher to 24,253.64, while the CAC 40 in Paris
climbed 2.4% to 8,112.00. Britain's FTSE 100 was an outlier, losing 0.3%
to 9,427.13.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.8% to 47,672.67, while the Hang Seng in
Hong Kong surged 1.8% to 25,910.60.
The Shanghai Composite index gained 1.2% to 3,912.21.
In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 2.7% to 3,657.28 as market heavyweight
Samsung Electronics advanced 3.7%.
Taiwan's Taiex added 1.8%.
U.S. indexes bounced Tuesday between gains and losses, weighed down by
renewed jitters over friction between Washington and Beijing.
The S&P 500 gave up 0.2% and the Dow climbed 0.4%. The Nasdaq composite
dropped 0.8%.
Markets have been gyrating as the U.S. and China trade harsh words and
threats of new trade sanctions and tariffs.
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A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's
Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, in
Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
 Technology stocks are hypersensitive
to trade issues since big chipmakers and other companies rely on
China for raw materials and manufacturing. China's large consumer
base is also important for their sales growth. Chipmaker Nvidia
slumped 2.6% and Broadcom fell 3.5%.
While U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war with the second
biggest economy and leading global rival is shaking up the global
trading system, the U.S. economy has so far dodged any major impact
from his frequently shifting U.S. tariff policies. That could change
if nations fall back into a cycle of retaliatory tariffs and
companies pass along more of the higher costs to consumers.
The government shutdown has disrupted the usual economic updates on
inflation, consumer spending and employment, making it more
difficult for investors and economists to gauge the tariffs'
economic impact.
A lack of updates about the U.S. economy has also left the Fed
without much of the data it uses to make policy decisions. The
central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a
percentage point in September amid worries that unemployment could
worsen. That marked its first cut of the year and Wall Street
expects similar cuts at the Fed’s meetings in October and December.
Wall Street is looking toward the upcoming round of company earnings
and forecasts to get a better sense of the broader economic picture.
Some worry stocks are too pricey. For them to look less expensive
overall, either prices need to fall or companies’ profits need to
rise.
In other dealings early Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil clawed
back lost ground to gain 12 cents, trading at $58.82 per barrel.
Brent crude, the international standard, added 7 cents to $62.46 per
barrel.
The U.S. dollar slipped to 151.33 Japanese yen from 151.83 yen. The
euro rose to $1.1629 from $1.1608.
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