Seoul Gazette - Stocks mini rally falters

Wall Street stocks fell at open of trading, with more positive economic data prompting concerns among investors about rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve.

The Dow dropped 0.6 percent as trading got underway, while the broader S&P 500 shed 0.8 percent and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2 percent.

"The momentum of the rally the stock market enjoyed yesterday has not carried over this morning," said Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.

"Better than expected third quarter GDP and weekly initial claims data ... has fueled concerns about Fed tightening" interest rates further and for longer, he added.

Revised Commerce Department figures now show the US economy expanded at a 3.2 percent annualized rate in July through September, up from a previous estimate of 2.9 percent.

Meanwhile, first-time and continuing jobless claims fell last week.

Both figures indicate that the US economy is still racing ahead at full tilt, while the Fed has indicated it will raise interest rates until it achieves a sufficient slowdown in activity to tame rampant inflation.

Equities have been volatile in recent weeks as investors weigh up interest rate hikes and global recession risks against the reopening of China's economy.

Thursday's reaction of investors to good economic news was the opposite the day before, which a bigger-than-expected jump in US consumer confidence this month sent stocks soaring.

All three main indices on Wall Street ended more than one percent higher Wednesday.

Asian stocks took their cue from those gains, led by Hong Kong which rose by more than two percent with tech firms tracking their US counterparts higher and property stocks boosted by comments from top Chinese officials pledging support for the beleaguered sector.

Towards the end of the day, Shanghai dipped on worries about rising Covid cases in China.

But the momentum failed to carry over into European trading, where both Frankfurt and Paris fell.

Elsewhere Thursday, oil prices extended recent strong gains in reaction to falling US stockpiles that left crude inventories at their lowest levels in eight years.

On the corporate front Thursday, France's privacy watchdog said it had fined US tech giant Microsoft 60 million euros ($64 million) for foisting on users advertising cookies -- data files that track online browsing.

The company's shares fell by 2.1 percent as trading got underway in New York, with other tech shares also sliding.

- Key figures around 1430 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 7,512.55 points

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.8 percent at 13,991.02

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.5 percent at 6,547.09

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.6 percent at 3,848.67

New York - DOWN 0.6 percent at 33,169.19

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.5 percent at 26,507.87 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 2.7 percent at 19,679.22 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 3,054.43 (close)

Dollar/yen: UP at 132.39 yen from 132.38 yen on Wednesday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0597 from $1.0613

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2014 from $1.2082

Euro/pound: UP at 88.27 pence from 87.81 pence

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.8 percent at $82.84 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.8 percent at $78.94 per barrel

burs-rl/lcm

P. Rasmussen--BTZ