TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were trading mixed Tuesday after the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell back after creeping above 5%.
France's CAC 40 inched down less than 0.1% to 6,847.50 in early trading. Germany's DAX slipped nearly 0.1% to 14,788.30. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.4% to 7,347.01.
The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%.
Rapidly rising yields in the bond market have been pressuring stock prices since the summer.
Treasury yields help dictate how much investors pay for everything from stocks to corporate bonds to cryptocurrencies. Higher yields also make it more expensive for nearly everyone to borrow money, which puts the brakes on economic growth and adds stress to the entire financial system.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly topped 5.02% on Monday to touch its highest level since 2007. But stocks got some relief as it then slipped back to 4.84%. Early Tuesday it was at 4.83%.
On Monday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6%.
Lower bond yields tend to most help stocks of companies promising big growth far in the future or those seen as the most expensive. That gave a particular boost to technology and other high-growth stocks, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 0.3%.
In Asian trading Tuesday, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.2% to finish at 31,062.35. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% to 6,856.90. South Korea's Kospi jumped 1.1% to 2,383.51.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped nearly 1.1% to 16,991.53, while the Shanghai Composite advanced 0.8% to 2,962.24. Taiwan's Taiex was up 0.4%.
Shanghai's benchmark has been trading near its lowest levels in several years as worries over a slump in the property market and a slowing economy in general have led investors to sell off shares.
One wild card for inflation has been the price of oil, which has bounced in recent weeks amid worries potential disruptions to supplies due to the latest Hamas-Israel war.
A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil added 11 cents to $85.60 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It tumbled $2.59 to settle at $85.49 Monday. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 15 cents to $89.99 a barrel. It fell $2.33 to $89.83 per barrel Monday.
U.S. oil had been above $93 last month, and it's bounced up and down since then amid concerns that fighting in the Gaza Strip could lead to disruptions in supplies from Iran or other big oil-producing countries.
While worries about higher Treasury yields and the war in Gaza are weighing on markets, strong corporate profits and the resilient U.S. economy have helped to offset such pressures. This week, more than 30% of the companies in the S&P 500 will report. They include General Motors, Microsoft and Amazon.
Economic updates this week will include a Friday report on how much U.S. households are spending and what kind of inflation they're feeling.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched down to 149.53 Japanese yen from 149.71 yen. The euro cost $1.0649, down from $1.0669.
