Stock market today: World shares rebound following latest tumble on Wall Street. Oil prices gain $2

By ZIMO ZHONG
Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) — World shares were mostly higher on Friday and oil prices jumped about $2 after the Israeli military said its troops and tanks had briefly entered northern Gaza.

Germany’s DAX gained 0.4% to 14,796.41 while the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.4% to $6,861.30. Britain’s FTSE 100 picked up 0.2% to 7,367.42.

The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.6% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3%. On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1.2% for its ninth drop in 11 days. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.8% and the Dow sank 0.8%.

Worries that the latest Israel-Hamas war might lead to a wider conflict, disrupting oil supplies from elsewhere in the region, have been pushing oil prices higher.

Early Friday, U.S. benchmark crude was up $1.98 at $85.18 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gave up $2.18 on Thursday.

Brent crude, the international standard, added $1.94 to $88.88 a barrel. It shed $2.07 on Thursday.

In Asian trading, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 1.3% to 30,991.69 as an unexpectedly high reading for consumer inflation in Tokyo raised hopes the central bank might finally end its longstanding near-zero interest rate policy.

Tokyo core consumer inflation, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, rose 2.7% in October, the Statistics Bureau reported Friday. As a leading indicator of nationwide trends, it suggests a broader trend of rising prices.

Chinese shares also halted their recent slide as the government reported that profits at China’s industrial firms extended gains for a second month in September, rising nearly 12%, following policy measures to help stabilize the slowing economy.

Industrial profits rose 17.2% in August in the first expansion in more than a year.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 2.1% to 17,398.73 and the Shanghai Composite index added 1% to 3,017.78. The Kospi in Seoul gained 0.2% to 2,302.81. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.2% to 6,826.90. Taiwan’s Taiex was 0.4% higher and Bangkok’s SET jumped 1.3%.

Wall Street retreated Thursday, dropping nearly 10% below its high mark for the year, after big-name companies warned an uncertain global economy may hurt their profits.

Meta Platforms was among the market’s heaviest weights, sinking 3.7% even though the parent company of Facebook and Instagram reported fatter profit and revenue for the summer than analysts expected.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.86%, from 4.96% late Wednesday, after reports showed the U.S. economy continues to storm ahead despite much higher interest rates that have already lashed the stock market.

A preliminary estimate suggested the U.S. economy’s growth accelerated during the summer to 4.9%. That was more than economists expected. Another report indicated the U.S. job market remains remarkably solid, with relatively few layoffs across the country.

The U.S. economy clearly is not in a recession, but investors worry that robust growth could continue to push prices higher, leading the Federal Reserve to keep rates high for a long time to curb inflation.

Higher interest rates could mean eventual weakness for the economy and corporate profits. And high bond yields make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks and other investments.

Treasury yields have spurted higher as they catch up with the main interest rate controlled by the Fed, which is at its highest level since 2001.

In the near term, traders overwhelmingly expect the Federal Reserve to hold rates steady at its next meeting, which ends Wednesday. That would mark a second straight meeting where the Fed did not hike its main interest rate, which it has pulled above 5.25% from nearly zero early last year.

In currency dealings Friday, the dollar fell to 150.01 Japanese yen from 150.39 yen. The euro fell to $1.0563 from $1.0565.