NATIONAL NEWS

Asian shares are mixed and crude prices fall after an unsettled day on Wall St

Oct 8, 2026, 9:53 PM

Asian shares were mixed Friday in holiday-thinned trading, while oil prices fell back from recent gains.

U.S. futures edged higher.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.8% to 68,512.30.

The Shanghai Composite index lost 1.4% to 3,758.47, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 1.1% to 24,046.79.

China is due to release its latest economic growth figures next week.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6%.

Markets were closed in South Korea and Taiwan.

U.S. stocks were unsteady Thursday, as oil prices rose and bond yields jumped before receding later in the day.

“Equities remain within striking distance of record highs, but the backdrop has turned considerably less hospitable,” Steven Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

The S&P 500 fell 0.5% for a second straight loss after setting an all-time high the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 1.3% as technology stocks took particularly hard hits.

Stocks felt pressure from a 4.1% rise in the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, to $104.28. It’s been pinballing between $96 and nearly $110 over the last month on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the global energy industry to return to normal.

Brent got to nearly $106 in the morning before President Donald Trump sent its price veering after saying “productive discussions” are happening with Iran and that the U.S. military would not attack it before the upcoming U.S. elections in November.

Early Friday, Brent was down 1% at $103.28 a barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude oil was 0.9% lower, at $90.23.

In the bond market, yields have been trading at their highest levels in years or even decades, threatening to slow the economy.

The 10-year Treasury yield initially rose, to 5.35% early Thursday before falling back to 5.23%.

It dropped after the U.S. government said that it sold $22 billion in 30-year Treasury bonds at an auction with a high yield of less than 5.62%. That helped bring the 30-year Treasury yield down to 5.60% from 5.73% in the morning, which is a notable move for the bond market.

High debt loads have loomed over the market as the U.S. federal deficit climbed to nearly $2 trillion in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30.

In share trading, PepsiCo climbed 3.7% after it reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. But drops for several influential technology stocks overshadowed those gains.

Nvidia, the chip company that’s ridden the tidal wave of demand created by artificial-intelligence technology, fell 2.9%. Because it’s the largest stock by value on Wall Street, it was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 even though other stocks had larger losses.

That included drops for other AI-related stocks. Broadcom lost 4.3% and Micron Technology slumped 4.8%.

AI stocks are under heavy pressure to report big growth to justify how expensive their shares have gotten due to the AI frenzy.

“What was once a broad, buy-anything-with-an-AI-label momentum trade is becoming a much tougher contest between balance-sheet strength and ambition,” Innes said.

In other dealings early Friday, the U.S. dollar rose to 158.01 Japanese yen from 157.89 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1225, up from $1.1211.

___

AP Business Writer Stan Choe in New York contributed to this report.

National News

Associated Press

Asian shares are mixed and crude prices fall after an unsettled day on Wall St

Asian shares were mixed Friday in holiday-thinned trading, while oil prices fell back from recent gains. U.S. futures edged higher. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.8% to 68,512.30. The Shanghai Composite index lost 1.4% to 3,758.47, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 1.1% to 24,046.79. China is due to release its latest economic growth […]

58 minutes ago

This satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Isaia...

Associated Press

El Niño’s storm-killer winds and climate’s warming waters in fight over future of Hurricane Isaias

A supersized El Niño’s decapitating winds and the Gulf of Mexico’s toasty, storm-fueling waters are battling over the future strength of Hurricane Isaias. And the storm’s tilt and eye show who’s winning. All Atlantic hurricane season there has been “this battle between shear and just the overall conducive conditions,” said Colorado State University hurricane researcher […]

2 hours ago

Associated Press

Federal agents involved in a shooting that wounds a person in New York, police say

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal law enforcement agents shot and wounded a person in New York City on Thursday, city police said. Few details were immediately available about the shooting, which happened around 4 p.m. in the Marble Hill neighborhood north of Manhattan. The person who was shot is conscious and being treated at a […]

8 hours ago

President Donald Trump greets Republican U.S. Senate candidate Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at...

Associated Press

Trump wants Talarico and Paxton to debate. Talarico couldn’t be happier

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Democratic nominee James Talarico stopped holding campaign events in the Texas Senate race, his Republican opponent Ken Paxton saw an opening to pounce. “Where is James Talarico?” he called out Wednesday during a rally with President Donald Trump in San Antonio. But that night, while flying back to Washington on Air […]

8 hours ago

FILE - Margaret Hamilton of Cambridge, Mass., mathematic and computer programmer at the MIT Instrum...

Associated Press

Margaret Hamilton, who led a software team for NASA’s Apollo program, dies at 90

Margaret Hamilton, a groundbreaking computer scientist who led the team that created the onboard flight software for NASA’s moon-bound Apollo program and later in life was celebrated as a powerful symbol of women in technology, has died. She was 90. Hamilton died Sept. 30 at a hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, her daughter, Lauren Hamilton, told […]

10 hours ago

FILE - Packages in Amazon boxes move along a conveyor belt at the UPS Worldport hub in Louisville, ...

Associated Press

Amazon’s delivery box: a symbol of instant gratification and convenience

NEW YORK (AP) — By late afternoon, dozens of brown boxes in assorted sizes begin piling up in the lobby of my apartment building. Each bears the familiar smile — a cheerful curve stretching from “A” to “Z”— signaling a company that sells everything and promises satisfaction. The Amazon delivery box, found everywhere from suburban […]

10 hours ago

Asian shares are mixed and crude prices fall after an unsettled day on Wall St