Stocks in Europe and Asia climbed Friday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average set a fresh record, with South Korea's battered market leading a sharp rebound. AI-linked chip stocks stayed split, keeping U.S. indexes mixed even as most shares rose.
European and Asian markets pushed higher Friday after the Dow closed at another record, and a snap-back in South Korean shares set the tone for the session. American markets stayed shut for the Independence Day holiday, leaving overseas traders to run with Thursday's Wall Street lead.
Korea leads the Asian rebound
The sharpest move came from Seoul. South Korea's Kospi, which sank nearly 8% on Thursday, rebounded and gained 5.8% to 8,088.34. Samsung Electronics, the country's biggest company and a major chipmaker, rose 8.2%, while smaller rival SK Hynix jumped 10.9%.
Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management pointed to the pattern after two tech-led sessions. According to Fortune, he wrote that the Korean market showed "…how quickly a stretched rubber band can snap back when everyone leans the same way".
Other Asian benchmarks followed. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 advanced 1.5% to 69,744.07, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.3% to 23,345.28. In Europe, Germany's DAX rose 0.7% to 52,643.30 and Britain's FTSE 100 picked up 0.4% to 10,689.77.
Chip stocks keep U.S. indexes split
Wall Street's own picture was less clean. On Thursday the Dow gained 1.1% to 52,900.07, yet the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.8% to 25,382.67 as chip names sold off. The S&P 500 finished virtually unchanged, closing at 7,483.24 even though seven of every 10 stocks in it rose.
The drag came from AI winners. Micron Technology dropped 5.5% a day after plunging 10.6%, Lam Research sank 10.2%, and Nvidia fell 1.4%. Nvidia carries the most weight of any S&P 500 member, with a total value of nearly $4.7 trillion.
Jobs data eases the rate outlook
Broader sentiment got support from the labor market. A report showed U.S. employers added 57,000 jobs last month, short of the 100,000 economists expected and a slowdown from May. That weaker print could keep pressure off inflation, and if price growth cools, the Federal Reserve may feel less need to raise interest rates several times this year.
Source: Fortune
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