Hongdae street in Seoul city, South Korea
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Asia-Pacific markets rose after China said that it was evaluating possible trade talks with the U.S.
Markets in the region also trailed gains on Wall Street after all three key benchmarks advanced overnight on optimism that a slowdown in the global economy will not impede the progress of developments in artificial intelligence.
Hong Kong markets led gains in the region, with the Hang Seng Index up 1.35% while the Hang Seng Tech index surged 2.79%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.69% while the broader Topix index advanced 0.16%.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi index edged up 0.12%while the small-cap Kosdaq climbed 0.78%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose by 0.88%.
China markets are closed for the Labor Day public holiday.
U.S. stock futures slipped as Wall Street digested the earnings reports of two so-called “Magnificent Seven” stocks – Apple and Amazon.
In extended trading, shares of Apple slid more than 4% after revenue from its Services division fell short of Wall Street’s estimates in its second fiscal quarter. Meanwhile, Amazon’s shares declined over 2% as the e-commerce giant reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, but released soft guidance for the current period as it navigates uncertainty around U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
Overnight stateside, stocks rose as strong quarterly results from Meta Platforms and Microsoft – two Big Tech and “Magnificent Seven” stocks – eased concerns of a slowdown in artificial intelligence-powered developments amid the current macroeconomic uncertainty.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 83.60 points, or 0.21%, to close at 40,752.96. The S&P 500 gained 0.63% to end at 5,604.14, still slightly below its levels from before President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs announcement in early April. The Nasdaq Composite increased 1.52%, to close at 17,710.74 and wipe out the decline it experienced since April 2.
— CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Sean Conlon and Brian Evans contributed to this report.
