Wall Street little changed; Wal-Mart up after results

Other sectors to report declines included consumer staples, financials, healthcare and energy. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 5 points, or 0.2 percent, at 2,187. Japan’s Topix index increased 0.4 percent as the yen traded at 100.14 against the dollar.

NEW YORK, Aug 18 World equity markets advanced on Thursday, helped by positive US labor market data and comments from an influential Federal Reserve policymaker about strong hiring gains in recent months, while higher oil prices lifted energy sector stocks.

Since yesterday, traders have further pared down their bets on an interest rate increase, and now Fed Fund futures show that investors are pricing in on just a 22% chance of an increase in the USA interest rates.

“Rates are going down and down and down”. “That will continue to be supportive of equities”. That helped pull technology companies higher.

Oil entered a bull market, gaining for a seventh straight day, on speculation major oil producers may act to curb output.

Data showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, with initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropping to 262,000. Authorities are closely watching for speculative moves in the exchange rate because it’s been volatile, Vice Finance Minister Masatsugu Asakawa said yesterday.

“The BOJ is really in a tough spot”, Rivkin’s Woods said. They surged at the beginning of the year as the market tumbled. “That’s creating a lot of headwinds for Japanese exporters”.

The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 86 new highs and 24 new lows.

Australia’s benchmark ASX 200 was down 0.37% in early trade, with the heavily-weighted financials sub-index down 0.69%. New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 Index was little changed.

Wall Street has been on edge this week on conflicted views over the Fed, including from the central bank members themselves.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.2 per cent to 139.06 as of 11:53am in Hong Kong, reversing gains of as much as 0.4 per cent.

Wal-Mart Stores rose 1.9 per cent after reporting an 8.6 per cent rise in earnings to US$3.8 billon (S$5 billion).

Cisco shares fell 1.2 percent to $30.35 after the network equipment provider said it would cut 5,500 jobs and gave a disappointing forecast.

USA stocks declined Friday, with S&P 500 futures breaking even for the week as investors continued to speculate about a possible rate hike by the Federal Reserve this year.

About 5.9 billion shares changed hands on USA exchanges, compared with the 6.4 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.