Stock market today: Asian stocks follow Wall Street fall on interest rate concerns | First World War

Asian stocks were mostly lower Friday after Wall Street retreated following strong economic reports that raised the possibility that interest rates would remain painfully high.

US futures rose slightly and oil prices also rose

Japan's Nikkei 225 index lost 1.2% to 38,623.78 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.4% to 18,798.89.

South Korea's Kospi fell 1.2% to 2,689.42, while in Australia the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.9% to 7,740.60.

Taiwan's Taiex slipped 0.2% after hitting a record high on Thursday.

Most U.S. stocks fell Thursday, the latest example of how good news for the economy can be bad for Wall Street, when strong economic reports raised the possibility that interest rates could remain painfully students. The weakness was widespread and overshadowed another report on blowout profits from market heavyweight Nvidia.

The S&P 500 fell 0.7% to 5,267.84, its biggest decline since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5% to 39,065.26 and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.4% to 16,736.03.

Treasury yields added pressure following stronger-than-expected reports on the U.S. economy, which forced traders to rethink their bets on when the Federal Reserve might offer relief to financial markets by cutting bond rates. interest.

A report suggests that growth in U.S. business activity is reaching its fastest pace in more than two years. S&P Global said its preliminary data showed improving growth for companies not only in the services sector, but also in the hard-hit manufacturing sector.

A separate report shows that the US labor market remains strong despite high interest rates. Fewer workers filed for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected, indicating that layoffs remain low.

The Fed is trying to pull off the difficult feat of slowing the economy enough through high rates to bring inflation down to 2%, but not so much that it causes a painful recession. To do this, it is keeping its main interest rate at the highest level in more than two decades, and Wall Street is eagerly awaiting some easing.

A stronger-than-expected economy could push the Federal Reserve to wait longer before cutting interest rates, as traders have already revised down their overly optimistic forecasts. Hopes are still high for at least one rate cut this year. But traders backed away from some of those bets following Thursday's reports.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set rates on mortgages and other loans, rose to 4.47% from 4.43% late Wednesday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Federal Reserve action, rose to 4.93% from 4.87%.

The biggest drop in the S&P 500 came from Live Nation Entertainment, which fell 7.8% after the Justice Department accused it and its Ticketmaster business of exercising an illegal monopoly on live events in the country.

VF Corp., the company behind The North Face, Vans, Timberland and other brands, fell 2.9% after reporting a loss for the latest quarter, as well as weaker revenue than expected by analysts.

They helped more than offset the 9.3% rise in Nvidia, which released its latest knockout earnings report Wednesday evening. Its revenue jumped 262% in the most recent quarter from a year earlier, and its profit jumped 629%. The company's chips help train artificial intelligence systems, and demand is voracious.

Nvidia also increased its dividend as its CEO, Jensen Huang, touted the start of the next industrial revolution.

Concern is growing that Wall Street's frenzy around AI's potential has created a bubble in which prices have soared too high and expectations have become too strict. But Nvidia's continued and meteoric growth has muted some criticism.

In other trading, benchmark U.S. crude oil gained 11 cents to $76.98 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. He earned 30 cents on Thursday.

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 16 cents to $81.52 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar rose to 157.05 Japanese yen, from 156.96. The euro fell to $1.813 from $1.0817.

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AP Business Editor Stan Choe contributed.