Asian shares are mostly lower after US stocks stumble

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly lower in Asia on Monday while U.S. futures advanced after Wall Street’s lackluster finish to last week.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.3% to 50,226.67 after the government reported that the Japanese economy contracted at a 1.8% annual pace in the July-September quarter.

The dollar rose against the Japanese yen, climbing to 154.65 yen from 154.58 yen.

Chinese markets also slipped, as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.8% to 26,359.22. The Shanghai Composite index declined 0.4% to 3,973.31.

Geopolitical tensions have also hurt sentiment in East Asia, as relations between China and Japan have deteriorated due to a spat following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion that a Chinese move against self-governing Taiwan could prompt a Japanese military response.

China objects to other countries’ involvement in Taiwan, which Beijing claims it as its own and destined to come under its control. The Chinese government has warned its citizens not to travel to Japan or study there.

“China’s escalation against Japan over Prime Minister Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks has moved from a diplomatic irritant to a consequential macro input, with markets now forced to reprice Asia’s near-term risk curve,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

In South Korea, the Kospi gained 1.7% to 4,078.39 on buying of tech-related shares. Computer chip makers have rallied after they formed plans with industry leader Nvidia to cooperate in developing artificial intelligence, with SK Hynix surging 6.8% on Monday and Samsung Electronics up 3.3%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped less than 0.1% to 8,628.60.

In Taiwan, the Taiex picked up 0.4%, while India’s Sensex gained 0.3%.

The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.5% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher.

On Friday, the S&P 500 meandered as Nvidia, bitcoin, gold and other high flyers swung sharply before calming. It ended down less than 0.1% at 6,734.11. The Dow fell 0.7% to 47,147.48, while the Nasdaq composite index inched up 0.1% to 22,900.59.

Friday’s mixed outcome followed one of Wall Street’s worst drops since a sell-off in the spring.

Nvidia, which has become the poster child of the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, began the day with a loss of 3.4%. It then stormed back to a rise of 1.8% and yanked the market in its wake.

Critics have been warning that the U.S. stock market could be primed for a drop because of how high prices have shot since April, leaving them looking too expensive.

Even with recent sharp swings for the S&P 500, the index that dictates the movements for many 401(k) accounts remains within 2.3% of its record set late last month.

One way companies can tamp down criticism about too-high stock prices is to deliver solid growth in profits. That’s raising the stakes for Nvidia’s profit report coming Wednesday, when it will say how much it earned during the summer.

Treasury yields had been falling for most of this year on expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut its main interest rate several times. And the Fed has indeed cut twice already in hopes of shoring up the slowing job market.

But questions are rising about whether a third cut will actually come after the Fed’s next meeting in December, something that traders had earlier seen as very likely. The downside of lower interest rates is that they can make inflation worse, and inflation has stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2% target.

Fed officials have pointed to the U.S. government’s shutdown, which delayed the release of updates on the job market and other signals about the economy. With less information and less certainty about how things are going, some Fed officials have suggested it may be better just to wait in December to get more clarity.

Bitcoin is one of the investments that can get a boost from lower interest rates. It rose 1.1% early Monday to about $95,400. It was near $125,000 in October.

In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 63 cents to $59.46 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 63 cents to $63.76 per barrel.

The euro fell to $1.1602 from $1.1605.