Stocks open slightly higher as traders return from holiday

BANGKOK – Stocks are opening higher successful muted trading connected Wall Street Monday arsenic traders instrumentality from the Christmas holiday. The S&P 500 was up 0.5% successful the aboriginal going, led much more gains successful Big exertion companies similar Apple and Nvidia. The benchmark scale is coming disconnected its latest grounds high. European markets were besides mostly higher, but London’s marketplace was closed for a holiday. In Asia, Hong Kong’s marketplace was besides closed and Japan’s marketplace ended somewhat lower. Crude lipid prices held dependable and the output connected the 10-year Treasury enactment edged down to 1.48%.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier communicative follows below.

Major satellite stock benchmarks were mixed astatine the outset of the past trading week of the twelvemonth arsenic countries grappled with the dispersed of the omicron coronavirus variant.

Benchmarks were level aboriginal Monday successful Paris and Frankfurt and fell successful Shanghai, Bangkok, Tokyo and Seoul. Taiwan and India were higher. London and immoderate different markets were closed for holidays.

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Comments by China's cardinal bank, oregon People's Bank of China, implicit the play astir enactment for the slowing system highlighted differences successful stances among countries trying to equilibrium enactment for economical recoveries from the pandemic with measures to support ostentation successful check.

The Federal Reserve is among a fistful of cardinal banks that person already begun cutting involvement rates oregon different cutting backmost connected the other enactment they provided erstwhile the pandemic archetypal slammed satellite economies successful aboriginal 2020.

“The divergences successful planetary monetary argumentation are acceptable for a sharper crook heading into the caller year, particularly aft the PBOC’s announcement that it volition stay ‘proactive' successful its usage of monetary argumentation tools," Mizuho Bank said successful a commentary.

“With Omicron cases rising crossed China, pushing regions into fastener downs and tighter societal restrictions, a lawsuit for further maturation enactment is progressively clearer," it said.

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Germany's DAX edged up 0.1% to 15,764.98 and the CAC 40 successful Paris slipped 0.1% to 7,083.67. London was closed for holidays. The aboriginal for the S&P 500 edged 0.1% higher 4,721.50. The aboriginal for the Dow industrials was astir unchanged astatine 35,826.00.

In Asian trading, the Shanghai Composite scale edged 0.2% little to 3,615.97, portion Thailand’s SET edged little than 0.1% higher.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 scale mislaid 0.4% to 28,676.46 and the Kospi successful Seoul declined 0.4% to 2,999.55. India’s Sensex gained 0.1% to 57,189.09.

Markets were meandering aft a mixed time of quiescent trading connected Friday, erstwhile galore markets astir the satellite were closed oregon ending aboriginal successful observance of Christmas.

Last week, the S&P 500 acceptable another grounds arsenic fears ebbed astir the imaginable interaction of omicron outbreaks. However, overmuch is inactive uncertain astir the variant, which is spreading highly quickly, starring to a instrumentality to pandemic restrictions successful immoderate places.

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Hundreds of flights were cancelled successful the U.S. implicit the vacation weekend, with airlines reporting COVID-related staffing problems. France reported much than 100,000 caller cases successful a regular record.

Authorities successful galore countries person doubled down connected vaccination efforts arsenic omicron outbreaks complicate efforts stave disconnected caller lockdowns portion hospitals are inactive nether strain from delta variant infections.

In vigor markets Monday, U.S. benchmark crude lipid gave up 84 cents to $72.95 per tube successful physics trading connected the New York Mercantile Exchange. The terms of Brent crude lipid fell 3 cents to $75.76.

The U.S. dollar was astatine 114.64 Japanese yen, up from 114.38 yen precocious Friday. The euro slipped to $1.1308 from $1.1318.

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