(VOR News) – Wall Street has taken a break after reaching a new high because US firms had conflicting earnings. The S&P 500 was flat and near its all-time high from last month when Friday’s early trading began.
The Nasdaq composite index increased 0.1%, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 56 points, or 0.1%. Airbnb raised its fees after posting a larger-than-expected profit for the last quarter.
This was due to clients booking more nights online. A study that revealed US shop sales losses were far more than expected caused Treasury securities interest rates to decline.
The news just broke on Wall Street.
Here is a prior AP article. Wall Street stocks usually fell early Friday as investors awaited the government’s January retail sales figures. Prior to the opening bell, the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow Jones futures declined by 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively.
Airbnb’s revenue and earnings for Q4 exceeded estimates due to a large rise in nights stayed. This made Airbnb’s shares rise 13.8%. Also, Roku’s lower-than-expected loss led to a 14% rise in premarket trading. The company also surpassed its sales goals, with quarterly platform revenue exceeding $1 billion for the first time. The company was proud of its win.
Despite reporting a higher loss than Wall Street expected, the online betting platform DraftKings witnessed a 5% rise in premarket activity throughout the day. DraftKings has posted its first adjusted profit and raised its 2025 sales estimates.
The Department of Commerce will disclose January’s retail sales data after Friday’s close. But since the pandemic’s peak, consumers have primarily supported the US economy. This is despite rising interest rates and sustained inflation.
But they think that customers who want to spend freely may be put off by President Donald Trump’s unclear aims, including tariffs. Most economists think this trend will continue without interruption.
Asian equity markets had a surprise robust Friday, ignoring Trump’s new tariff concerns. This was due to the US stocks’ almost Wall Street unparalleled surge.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong jumped 3.69% to 22,620.33, while the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.43% to 3,346.72; both of these indexes reflect stock market performance.
The Nikkei 225 index declined 0.79% to 39,149.43. The KOSPI in South Korea rose 0.31% to 2,591.05, and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia up 0.19% to 8,555.80.
The events occurred at the same time as those on Wall Street.
In a note, IG’s market strategist Yeap Jun Rong noted that “there are much tailwinds for risk sentiments in the region to tap on.” This phrase was about the worldwide market. Good Wall Street turnover, a weak US dollar, and low Treasury yields are tailwinds.
He said the yen’s increased value likely caused the Japanese Nikkei to fall behind.
All Chinese IT stocks on the Hong Kong exchange closed with a profit on Friday. Tencent (video games) and Xiaomi (smartphones) rose 7%, while Alibaba (e-commerce) and Meituan rose over 6%. Meituan is believed to be the most successful of the three firms.
Chinese tech firms are now interested in AI because DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, built a model that competes with OpenAI using less hardware. The model was also trained using less hardware. Also, companies like Alibaba have just released new versions of their AI systems. Baidu, the search engine’s parent firm, said Friday that its Ernie Bot AI chatbot will be free to the public.
By midday in Europe, the CAC 40 in France was up 0.3%, but the DAX in Germany was down 0.4%. These two events happened at once. The UK’s FTSE 100 index fell 0.3%.
The US benchmark crude oil price jumped 63 cents to $71.92 a barrel. A barrel of Brent crude, the worldwide standard, climbed 68 cents to $75.70. This Wall Street shows the commodity’s price rose.
The US dollar declined from 152.82 to 152.78 yen due to currency trading. This was due to currency trading. The euro’s price rose from $1.0466 to $1.0479.
SOURCE: AP
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