European shares opened lower after a mixed day of trading in Asia, where Japan’s Nikkei 225 index topped 68,000 for the first time on Wednesday.
Oil prices rose more than $2 a barrel.
Buying of technology shares linked to the boom in artificial intelligence has been driving rallies worldwide.
But in early trading, Germany’s DAX lost 0.8% to 24,930.74 and the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.4% to 8,173.51. Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 0.3% to 10,340.00.
The future for the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%.
During Asia’s day, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 2.5% to 68,402.13. Shares in computer chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron gained 13.4%, while those for chip testing equipment maker Advantest gained 5.1%.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng lost 1.6% to 25,633.21, while the Shanghai Composite index added 0.2% to 4,083.97.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.7% to 8,785.70.
Taiwan’s Taiex gained 2%, while in India, the Sensex lost 0.9%.
Markets in South Korea were closed for a holiday.
On Tuesday, winners of the artificial-intelligence boom kept driving higher, pushing U.S. stocks to more records.
“One thing that stands out in today’s market is how little investors seem willing to pay for protection despite a world overflowing with potential shocks,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 7,609.78 after drifting between small gains and losses through the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4% to 51,307.79, and the Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1% to 27,093.90. All three set all-time highs.
A report said that U.S. employers were advertising many more jobs at the end of April than economists expected, a potential signal of continued health for the U.S. labor market.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s stock soared 19.5% after it reported a profit for the latest quarter that blew past analysts’ expectations. It credited demand from customers building their artificial-intelligence capabilities.
Marvell Technology leaped 32.5% for its best day since its stock began trading in 2000 after Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, suggested at a conference in Taiwan that Marvell could be “the next trillion-dollar company.” The last company to enter the expanding club of behemoths was Micron Technology, which is likewise riding the AI wave. Nvidia, which slipped 0.7%, has seen its total value top $5 trillion.
Generac climbed 5.7% after saying it signed a deal to provide backup power generators to an unnamed “leading hyperscale data center operator.”
Analysts have been saying the broad U.S. stock market may be set for a slowdown following an unrelenting streak of nine straight winning weeks for the S&P 500, its longest since 2023.
The rally has been largely due to strong profit reports from U.S. companies, and to hopes that the United States and Iran will reach a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. That would allow oil to flow freely again from the Persian Gulf and hopefully lower its price.
In the oil market, prices have resumed climbing. Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed $2.63 to $98.63 per barrel early Wednesday.
U.S. benchmark crude oil advanced $2.79 to $96.55 per barrel.
After briefly trading as high as 160.44 yen, the U.S. dollar slipped to 159.86 yen from 159.92 late Tuesday. The euro fell to $1.1631 from $1.1632.
