WORLD NEWS | Stocks today: Wall Street follows global stocks lower ahead of Fed bills, jobs data

BEIJING, July 5 (AP) — Stocks were trading lower on Wall Street early Wednesday ahead of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting and new jobs data due later in the week.

Benchmark S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.5% before the close.

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Minutes of the Fed’s monthly meeting, which left key interest rates unchanged, are due on Wednesday. Fed officials have said two more rate hikes are likely this year, but traders hope they will decide that enough has been done to keep inflation in check.

On Friday, the US will release employment data for June, a day after weekly employment data and job vacancies data.

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“Rate expectations are likely to be recalibrated based on the outcome of these key releases,” KCM Trade’s Tim Waterer said in a note.

The U.S. labor market has weathered more than a year of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool the labor market and the broader economy by raising interest rates.

Layoffs are at historically low levels, job openings are plentiful, and the economy continues to add jobs at a healthy pace.

The Fed’s next interest rate decision is due later this month.

UPS shares fell more than 2% after contract talks between UPS and the truckers union, which represents about 340,000 UPS employees, collapsed overnight. Both sides have accused the other of walking away from negotiations.

The current contract expires at the end of this month, and Teamsters members voted last month to authorize the strike.

During European afternoon trade, London’s FTSE 100 and Frankfurt’s DAX were both down 0.5%, while Paris’ CAC 40 was down 0.6%.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.7% to 3,222.94 after a measure of activity in China’s services sector fell to its lowest level this year, a further sign that the recovery from the end of anti-epidemic controls is cooling.

The monthly purchasing managers’ index released by Chinese business magazine Caixin fell to 53.9 out of 100 points from 57.1 in May, with a figure above 50 indicating increased activity. Measures of factory activity also fell.

“In the absence of policy support, weaker growth expectations could become self-fulfilling,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a note.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.2% to 33,338.70, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.6% to 19,110.38.

Seoul’s Kospi fell 0.6% to 2,579.00, while Sydney’s S and P-ASX 200 fell 0.4% to 7,253.20.

India’s Sensex fell 0.3% to 65,301.84. New Zealand and Jakarta rose, while Singapore and Bangkok fell.

In the first three months of 2023, China’s economic activity accelerated to 4.5% from 3% last year. China’s No. 2 leader, Li Qiang, said last month that economic growth was improving.

He gave no details but expressed confidence that China could meet its official growth target of “around 5 percent” this year.

Traders were unnerved by tensions over U.S.-China technology trade after Beijing announced this week that it would curb exports of gallium and germanium, metals used to make semiconductors and solar panels.

This comes ahead of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit this week as part of a U.S. effort to restore strained relations.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.47 to $71.26 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trades, fell 9 cents to $76.16 a barrel in London.

The dollar rose to 144.60 yen against the yen from 144.46 yen on Tuesday. The euro rose to $1.0879 from $1.0870. (Associated Press)

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