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Beijing and Washington “can totally find ways to resolve each other’s concerns”, China’s commerce minister said Friday, as officials from both sides were set to meet in Malaysia for trade talks.The world’s two biggest economies have spent a large part of this year locked in a tit-for-tat trade row, though they appear to be seeking to avoid further escalation.Chinese vice premier He Lifeng is leading a delegation to meet US counterparts in Malaysia from October 24 to 27, Beijing said Thursday, the latest of several such rounds of negotiations.Commerce minister Wang Wentao said Friday that the previous meetings had shown “China and the United States can totally find ways to resolve each other’s concerns”. The two can “find correct ways to coexist, and promote the healthy, stable and sustainable development of China-US economic ties through mutual respect and equal consultation”, he told a news conference marking the end of a key political meeting in Beijing.The Malaysia talks come after a “candid, in-depth and constructive” weekend call between He and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who will attend the meeting. Hopes that ties might stabilise were given a further boost when the White House announced US President Donald Trump will meet Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea next Thursday, having previously threatened to cancel. The preceding talks in Malaysia will cover “important issues in the economic and trade relationship between China and the United States”, Beijing said Thursday. Trade tensions between the two have been on a rollercoaster ride since Trump’s return to the White House, with both sides slapping escalating tariffs on each other.Tit-for-tat duties reached triple digits on both sides at one point this year, snarling supply chains. A key meeting in May between their negotiators in Geneva resulted in a 90-day suspension of the highest tariffs. Subsequent talks in London, Stockholm and Madrid worked towards establishing a more permanent deal, among other agreements, but the truce remains shaky. The pause on steeper duties is in place until November 10 after being extended again in August. However, disagreements have flared again, with Beijing this month announcing sweeping controls on the critical rare earths industry — prompting Trump to threaten 100 percent tariffs on imports from China in retaliation.The countries also began applying arrival fees against each other’s ships, sparked by a US “Section 301” investigation that found China’s dominance in the maritime sector was unreasonable.But Trump said on Wednesday he hopes to reach a “deal on everything” with Xi. 

US President Donald Trump’s trip to Asia which begins Sunday carries significant economic stakes for countries around the region, with multiple tariff deals still pending and a trade dispute simmering between Washington and Beijing.Trump will visit Malaysia from October 26 to 27 for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit. He will then travel to Japan before attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea starting October 29.Here follows some of the key issues:Malaysia: agreement on trackMalaysia is expected to finalise a trade deal with Washington during Trump’s visit to Kuala Lumpur, with negotiations “99.9 percent” complete, according to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The governments will also sign “initial agreements” to strengthen trade and investment, he said. “Semiconductors, AI, digital and energy are all covered,” he added. Malaysia has been hit by US tariffs of 19 percent on its exports, and Trump is considering imposing additional tariffs on imported chips. Malaysia is the world’s sixth-largest exporter of semiconductors, which make up 40 percent of its exports.China: Rare earths on the agenda at Xi-Trump meeting?Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will travel to Malaysia for trade negotiations with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent before an anticipated meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping in South Korea. Trump said on Wednesday he hopes to reach a “deal on everything” with Xi, after US-China trade tensions recently escalated.Beijing announced it would strengthen its controls on the export of rare earth elements, essential manufacturing materials over which it holds a near-monopoly. In response, Trump threatened huge additional tariffs.Japan: Takaichi’s challengesJapan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will host Trump in Tokyo.In exchange for an agreement concluded in July that lowered US-imposed tariffs on Japan, Washington is demanding $550 billion worth of Japanese investments in the United States.However, Tokyo has promised only one to two percent of that would come in the form of direct investments, with the rest made of loans and guarantees — a point of difference that could come up in the talks between the leaders. Another key topic would likely be Washington’s demands that Tokyo stops importing liquefied natural gas from Russia, the island nation’s third-largest supplier.Japan is also facing high tariff rates on key exports. Although Trump has reduced tariffs on Japanese automobiles to 15 percent, this rate is still considered too high by manufacturers, while 50 percent tariffs remain on Japanese steel.South Korea: Progress toward an agreement As Seoul struggles to reach a trade agreement with Washington, US Treasury Secretary Bessent said last week that an agreement was nearing completion.The South Korean Chief Presidential Secretary for Policy, Kim Yong-beom, has said that both parties have made significant progress, though the details of the deal still need to be settled. In July, Trump announced he had agreed to reduce tariffs on South Korean products to 15 perecent in exchange for a commitment from Seoul for Korean investment of $350 billion in the United States.However, the terms of these investments are still being hotly debated and tariffs on automobiles remain. The arrest of hundreds of South Korean workers by US immigration authorities has also strained relations.Indonesia: awaiting clarificationJakarta and Washington struck a preliminary tariff agreement in July that reduced US tariffs on Indonesian goods to 19 percent in exchange for significant investment and Indonesia pledging to acquire 50 Boeing aircraft, according to Trump.Indonesia’s Chief Economic Minister, Airlangga Hartarto, who previously signalled a December deadline for the details of the reciprocal tariff agreement, said on Monday the negotiation had been “temporarily halted” due to the US government shutdown.Vietnam: furniture exports under pressureVietnam reached an agreement with Washington in July to reduce tariffs on the country’s exports to 20 percent, but Vietnam still faces a large impact from sector-specific duties. In mid-October, Washington imposed a 25 percent tariffs on imports of furniture, which accounts for 10 percent of Vietnam’s exports to the US. Hanoi has said it wishes to advance “the negotiation process for the trade deal on the basis of fairness, equality and mutual benefit.”India: Hope for reconciliationIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to participate in the ASEAN summit via video conference, and New Delhi is yet to reach a formal trade agreement with the Trump administration.The relationship between the two countries deteriorated in August when Washington raised tariffs on Indian exports to 50 percent, but the two leaders have since adopted a more conciliatory tone.burs-jug/mac/ceg/fox

Japanese inflation accelerated last month, official data showed Friday, ahead of a maiden policy speech by new Prime Minister Sakae Takaichi who has promised to ease pressure on households. Takaichi’s predecessor Shigeru Ishiba survived barely a year in office, with voters hammering the ruling party in elections partly because of rising prices.After becoming Japan’s first woman prime minister on Tuesday, Takaichi said the cost-of-living squeeze was a priority and told her cabinet to draw up measures to address it.The figures Friday showed the consumer price index jumped to 2.9 percent in September from 2.7 percent the previous month. But without volatile fresh fruit and energy prices, the reading eased to 3.0 percent from 3.3 percent.A particular cause of voter anger over the past year has been skyrocketing prices for rice.This was linked to a very hot summer in 2023 and panic-buying after a “megaquake” warning last year, amongst other factors.Prices for the staple in September climbed 48.6 percent year-on-year, though the rate has eased from recent months, having hit around 100 percent in June.Takaichi has long-advocated for more government spending and easy monetary policy to spur growth, and her appointment has boosted stocks to record highs.Since taking office, however, she has said monetary policy decisions would be left to the Bank of Japan (BoJ).In her policy speech, she will reportedly say that her government will have a “responsible and proactive fiscal policy”.The BoJ has been “normalising” its super-easy monetary policy and inflation has been above target for some time, increasing the prospects for hiking interest rates further.- Defence spending -“Overall, the big picture continues to be that price pressures appear to be reasonably firm,” said Abhijit Surya at Capital Economics.But the BoJ remains “concerned about the impact of US tariffs on the Japanese economy and the potential for negative spillovers to corporate profits and wage growth,” Surya said, predicting a rate hike in January.Takaichi was expected to say in her speech that the target of spending two percent of gross domestic product on defence will be brought forward by two years, media reports said.US President Donald Trump, who wants Tokyo — as well as other allies — to boost their military spending, is due to visit Japan next week.Tokyo’s previous target was to spend two percent of GDP on defence in the 2027-28 fiscal year but Takaichi wants this achieved in the current tax year, reports said.Takaichi is also expected to say China is “an important neighbouring country and it is necessary to build a constructive and stable relationship” with Beijing, according to local media.But she will say that “there are concerns regarding security and economic security”.She will also say Japan needs foreign workers but that “illegal acts and deviations from the rules by some foreign nationals have resulted in the sense of anxiety and unfairness is being felt”.”While drawing a clear line from xenophobia, we will take a firm stand against such acts,” she will say, according to the reports.The populist Sanseito party, which calls immigration a “silent invasion”, has been making gains in recent elections.A new poll published Thursday by the Yomiuri Shimbun daily put support for Takaichi at 71 percent, the fifth-highest for a new cabinet since 1978.

US President Donald Trump has pardoned the convicted Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the White House press secretary said Thursday, accusing Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden of behaving in a “very hostile” manner toward the crypto industry.Binance was created in 2017, and swiftly became the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, turning Zhao into a billionaire.Following an investigation into the firm’s operations, Zhao pleaded guilty to violating US anti-money-laundering laws in late 2023, and served a four-month prison sentence for it in 2024.Zhao’s pardon could help pave the way for Binance to return to the United States, around two years after it agreed to suspend its US operations in a deal to resolve the Department of Justice’s criminal investigation.  “This was an overly prosecuted case by the Biden administration,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in Washington on Thursday, accusing the previous administration of pursuing an “egregious over-sentencing of this individual.”The previous administration had also been “very hostile” to the cryptocurrency industry, she continued, adding that Trump had pardoned Zhao in order to “correct this overreach of the Biden administration’s mis-justice.”Trump later defended his decision, telling reporters at the White House that “a lot of people” had told him Zhao was not guilty.Binance has spent almost a year pursuing a pardon for Zhao, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, noting that Binance has been a “key supporter” of the Trump family’s crypto venture World Liberty Financial. Despite stepping down as chief executive in 2023, Zhao remains the majority shareholder of Binance.In a social media post on Thursday, he said he was “deeply” grateful to Trump for “upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice.”Democrats were quick to criticize Trump’s decision to pardon the convicted crypto billionaire. “CZ pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge and was sentenced to prison. But then he financed President Trump’s stablecoin and lobbied for a pardon. Today, he got it,” Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote in a post on X. “If Congress does not stop this kind of corruption, it owns it,” added Warren, a high-profile figure on the left of the party who sits on the US Senate’s finance committee. Since his presidential campaign, Trump has become a defender and promoter of the cryptocurrency sector, reversing his past criticism.He has eased the regulatory framework imposed on the cryptocurrency industry, which contributed more than $100 million to his reelection campaign.The Trump family’s various crypto businesses have netted them a pre-tax profit of around a billion dollars over the past 12 months, according to a recent Financial Times investigation.Trump’s pardon of Zhao follows a string of other similarly controversial moves, such as his decision to issue a blanket pardon for people convicted of violence in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The US president has also commuted the sentence of the disgraced former Republican lawmaker George Santos, who was convicted of committing wire fraud and identity theft. 

Oil prices jumped more than five percent Thursday after US President Donald Trump targeted Russia’s key oil industry with new sanctions in a bid to end the war in Ukraine.The surge in crude prices came as major US equity indices rebounded from the prior day’s pullback after the White House confirmed a plan for Trump to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week to discuss trade.Trump on Wednesday announced new sanctions against Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, saying his peace talks with President Vladimir Putin were not going “anywhere.”The move was joined by another round of punishment by the European Union as part of attempts to pressure Moscow to end its three-and-a-half-year invasion of Ukraine.”These new sanctions are likely to have a real impact,” said Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, an analyst at Global Risk Management.According to industry analysts the two companies account for just over half of Russia’s oil output, and both also produce natural gas.Analysts at Capital Economics said the move “could be a big enough shock to flip the global oil market into a deficit next year,” although they said the impact depends on the effectiveness of enforcement measures.Russia’s foreign ministry warned that the sanctions risked jeopardizing diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine war, and that it had developed a “strong immunity” to them.Trump had resisted imposing new restrictions against Moscow for months, but his patience snapped after plans for a new summit with Putin in Budapest collapsed.He had already claimed that India had agreed to cut its Russian oil purchases as part of a US trade deal, something New Delhi has not confirmed. Bloomberg on Thursday cited unnamed Indian refinery sources as saying flows of Russian crude were expected to plunge almost to zero as a result of the US sanctions.”As Rosneft and Lukoil produce around four million barrels per day between them, if India were to reduce its purchases, that would severely hamper Russia’s ability to fund its war,” said Trade Nation analyst David Morrison.Trump in August raised tariffs on Indian exports to the United States to 50 percent, with Trump’s aides accusing India of fueling Russia’s war in Ukraine.Major stock markets mostly rose as traders assessed US-China trade prospects and another batch of mixed company earnings.Trump is scheduled to embark on a major trip to Asia this week, his first visit to the region since he returned to the White House.The highlight will be his talks with Xi in South Korea, which Trump’s spokeswoman confirmed would take place on October 30 on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.Trump had previously threatened to scrap the meeting amid a flare-up in the trade war between Washington and Beijing. Gold, seen as a safe haven, recovered from recent heavy selling to rise more than one percent to around $4,100 an ounce, though still well below the record high above $4,381 touched earlier this week. Markets are looking forward to Friday’s US consumer price data, which will be released despite a government shutdown. The figure, closely watched for its implications for US monetary policy, is “always important but it’s even bigger this time because there’s no other data,” said FHN Financial’s Chris Low.- Key figures at around 2020 GMT -Brent North Sea Crude: UP 5.4 percent at $65.99 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 5.6 percent at $61.79 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 46,734.61 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.6 percent at 6,738.44 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 22,941.80 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.7 percent at 9,578.57 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 8,225.78 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 24,207.79 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.4 percent at 48,641.61 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.7 percent at 25,967.98 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,922.41 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1615 from $1.1611 on WednesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3323 from $1.3356Dollar/yen: UP at 152.60 from 151.98 yenEuro/pound: UP at 87.18 pence from 86.93 penceburs-jmb/dw

The company behind bringing Asian e-commerce giant Shein to a landmark Parisian department store suffered another setback Thursday as Disneyland Paris abandoned plans to open a pop-up boutique.Anger has been boiling since fast-fashion giant Shein announced earlier this month that it would open its first permanent physical store in November at BHV Marais, an iconic building that has stood across from Paris City Hall since 1856.The move prompted some French brands to announce they would leave BHV Marais, and a French state-owned bank pulled out of talks with the operator of the department store to purchase the building.Disneyland Paris had been slated to open a pop-up store in BHV Marais and stage “It’s a small world” themed window displays for the holidays, but announced Thursday it was pulling out.”Conditions are no longer exist to calmly hold Christmas events,” the company told AFP, confirming information originally reported by the Parisian daily.Trade unions at BHV Marais, which have gone on strike and publicly protested against Shein’s arrival, called the decision by Disneyland Paris a “hammer blow” against the department store following the departure of numerous other retailers.”The end of the year is ruined,” said the trade unions, Shein also announced plans to open shops at Galeries Lafayette department stores in the cities of Dijon, Reims, Grenoble, Angers and Limoges, which are also operated by SGM, which manages BHV Marais.SGM previously denounced “political pressure” against it over bringing Shein into France, but declined to comment on Thursday.The office of France’s new minister for small and medium-sized businesses said Thursday that Shein’s arrival sends “a bad signal that should be avoided.”Founded in China and now based in Singapore, Shein sells a wide variety of products at ultra-competitive prices.But it has also been under global scrutiny over its business model’s impact on the environment and labour conditions at its textile factories.

Crude prices spiked more than two percent Thursday after US President Donald Trump said he would impose heavy sanctions on two Russian oil companies. Meanwhile equity markets rallied after Beijing said it would hold tariff talks with Washington from Friday, tempering trade fears over reports of potential US curbs on software exports to China.Both main oil contracts jumped more than three percent — having climbed more than two percent Wednesday — on news of the measures after Trump said Ukraine peace efforts with Russian President Vladimir Putin “don’t go anywhere”.The move was joined by another round of punishments by the European Union as part of attempts to pressure Moscow to end its three-and-a-half-year invasion of Ukraine.Trump decided on the sanctions after plans for a fresh summit with Putin in Budapest collapsed this week.”Every time I speak with Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they don’t go anywhere,” the US president said in response to a question from an AFP journalist in the Oval Office.But he hoped the “tremendous sanctions” on oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil would be short-lived, and that “the war will be settled”.Brent and WTI were both sitting at near two-week highs after the spikes, helped by Trump’s claims that India agreed to cut its purchases of the commodity from Russia as part of a US trade deal. New Delhi has neither confirmed nor denied any policy shift.Bloomberg on Thursday cited unnamed Indian refinery sources as saying that flows from Russian crude were expected to plunge almost to zero as a result of the US sanctions.Equity markets fortunes were not as good in the morning but bounced as the day progressed as Beijing said Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng would hold talks with top US officials in Malaysia on October 24-27.The news helped soothe recent concerns about China-US relations, with a report Wednesday saying the White House was looking at curbing shipments of software-powered exports to China, including laptops and jet engines, owing to Beijing’s rare earths controls.Those mineral controls prompted a round of tit-for-tat exchanges between the superpowers that sparked fresh trade war worries, including Trump’s threat of 100 percent tariffs on China.The negotiations come amid expectations that Trump will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week at the APEC summit in South Korea.”Everything is on the table,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent replied when asked about limits on software exports to China. “If these export controls, whether it’s software, engines or other things happen, it will likely be in coordination with our G7 allies,” he added, according to Bloomberg News.The talk of software curbs “inject a degree of doubt into the collective’s consensus position that we will ultimately see a positive resolution in the US–China trade negotiations,” said Pepperstone’s Chris Weston. But he added: “The ingrained belief remains that Trump’s threat of 100 percent additional import tariffs on China is unlikely to take effect on 1 November — or, if they do, that they’ll be rolled back soon enough — and that China is unlikely to retaliate with punchy tariffs of its own.”Hong Kong rose, while Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Manila and Mumbai were also up with London, Frankfurt and Paris.Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei and Jakarta all retreated.Gold climbed more than one percent at around $4,100, recovering some of the previous two days’ losses but still well down from the record high above $4,381 touched earlier in the week. – Key figures at around 0810 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.4 percent at 48,641.61 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.7 percent at 25,967.98 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,922.41 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 9,526.62 Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1604 from $1.1606 on WednesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3354 from $1.3356Dollar/yen: UP at 152.47 from 151.99 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.88 pence from 86.90 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 3.3 percent at $60.44 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 3.2 percent at $64.61 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.7 percent at 46,590.41 (close) 

Taiwan has culled dozens of pigs after detecting its first cases of African swine fever, with the agriculture ministry saying Thursday no other infections have been detected elsewhere on the island.The virus — which does not affect humans — is highly contagious and fatal for pigs, and an outbreak is potentially devastating for the pork industry, experts say.”No abnormalities have been observed (elsewhere) so far,” Deputy Agriculture Minister Tu Wen-jane told a news conference in the central city of Taichung where the infections were detected. Samples of dead pigs at a farm in Wuqi district tested positive for swine fever this month and 195 pigs were culled, the ministry said Wednesday.Taichung authorities were tracing the whereabouts of 28 pigs from the farm that were sold in markets, Lin Nien-nung, from the ministry’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, said Thursday.The ministry said a three-kilometre (nearly two-mile) “control zone” was set up to prevent the infection from spreading, while the transport and slaughter of pigs across the island is banned for five days.Taiwan has around five million pigs and the pork industry generates about NT$70 billion (US$2.3 billion) a year, official data show.President Lai Ching-te has urged the public to “not panic” and called on local governments, livestock associations and pig farmers to be “highly vigilant”.”If any abnormal deaths or suspected animal infections are found among pigs, please immediately report them to the local animal quarantine authorities,” Lai said in a Facebook post.

Crude prices spiked more than two percent Thursday after Donald Trump said he would hit two Russian oil companies with hefty sanctions, while talk that the White House was planning curbs on software exports to China added to gloom on markets.Both main oil contracts jumped almost three percent — having climbed more than two percent Tuesday — on news of the measures after the US leader said Ukraine peace efforts with counterpart Vladimir Putin “don’t go anywhere”.The move was joined by another round of punishments by the European Union as part of attempts to pressure Moscow to end its three-and-a-half-year invasion of Ukraine.Trump decided on the sanctions after plans for a fresh summit with Putin in Budapest collapsed this week.”Every time I speak with Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they don’t go anywhere,” the US president said in response to a question from an AFP journalist in the Oval Office.But he hoped the “tremendous sanctions” on oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil Oil would be short-lived, and that “the war will be settled”.Brent and WTI were both sitting at near two week-highs after the spikes, helped by claims by Trump that India agreed to cut its purchases of the commodity from Russia as part of a US trade deal. New Delhi has neither confirmed nor denied any policy shift.Equity markets fortunes were not as good, with most of Asia tracking losses on Wall Street amid lingering concerns that a tech-led surge to record highs this year may be reaching its end, and some observers warning of a bubble forming.Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta all tumbled, though Singapore, Seoul and Wellington edged up.And gold clawed back some of the previous two days’ losses, edging up around one percent to $4,075 — but well down from the record high above $4,381 touched earlier in the week.While there is an expectation Trump will meet Chinese counterpart next week at the APEC summit in South Korea, investors were jolted slightly when he suggested that might not take place.And on Wednesday uncertainty was stoked again after a report said the administration was looking at curbing shipments of a range of software-powered exports to China, including laptops and jet engines, owing to Beijing’s rare earths controls.Those mineral controls sparked a round of tit-for-tat exchanges between the superpowers that sparked fresh trade war worries, including Trump’s threat of 100 percent tariffs on China.”Everything is on the table,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent replied when asked about limits on software exports to China. “If these export controls, whether it’s software, engines or other things happen, it will likely be in coordination with our G7 allies,” he added, according to Bloomberg News.There was a feeling that the issue was unlikely to explode into a full-on crisis, though analysts retained some caution.”Headlines that the US is considering software export curbs on China have certainly done risk no favours on the day,” said Pepperstone’s Chris Weston.They “inject a degree of doubt into the collective’s consensus position that we will ultimately see a positive resolution in the US–China trade negotiations”. “The ingrained belief remains that Trump’s threat of 100 percent additional import tariffs on China is unlikely to take effect on 1 November — or, if they do, that they’ll be rolled back soon enough — and that China is unlikely to retaliate with punchy tariffs of its own.”But is the market mispricing the risk of a strong-arm response from either side—one that could contradict the conciliatory tone both US and Chinese officials have projected through the media?”- Key figures at around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.3 percent at 48,664.74 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.6 percent at 25,637.25Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.9 percent at 3,880.18Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1598 from $1.1606 on WednesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3339 from $1.3356Dollar/yen: UP at 152.41 from 151.99 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.95 pence from 86.90 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 2.3 percent at $59.85 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 2.3 percent at $64.05 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.7 percent at 45,590.41 (close) London – FTSE 100: UP 0.9 percent at 9,515.00 (close)

Gold prices sank further Wednesday while major stock markets mostly fell following some disappointing corporate earnings amid lingering worries over trade tensions.Major US indices fell, with the Dow retreating from a record the prior day, as lackluster results from Netflix added to angst that upcoming reports from other tech giants may also fall short.”Any time you’ve got stocks that are priced with high expectations, if you’re not meeting those expectations, then the market is going to struggle with that,” said Dave Grecsek, a partner at wealth management firm Aspirant. More broadly, the market is wondering if “we are overextended here in this artificial intelligence trade,” he added.Most European equity indices also fell following declines in leading Asian markets earlier.Further earning reports from US tech giants and other blue chips in the coming days, including from Tesla, were also keeping investors wary as they gauged the business outlook and the impacts of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.Late Wednesday, Tesla reported a 37 percent drop in profits to $1.4 billion in results that missed analyst forecasts. The company cited a drag from tariffs and other expenses.London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index was a rare climber as the pound dropped on lower-than-expected UK inflation data that signaled another potential interest-rate cut from the Bank of England this year.Gold was once again a major focus after plunging six percent on Tuesday, a sell-off from record highs that rattled investor confidence in what is traditionally a safe-haven asset.Traders are “desperately trying to gauge whether… (Tuesday’s) historical collapse was indicative of a new period of weakness or simply a case of blowing off steam after a dramatic surge into record highs”, said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.Gold fell a further 1.4 percent to around $4,060 an ounce Wednesday after chalking up a record peak above $4,381 on Monday.The retreat hit the share prices of gold miners, while individual companies were impacted by earnings updates.In Paris, L’Oreal shed 6.7 percent after the cosmetics giant posted third-quarter earnings that undershot analysts’ expectations, with US tariffs weighing on American sales in particular.On the upside, Barclays and UniCredit posted positive results, easing fears of a new banking crisis emerging in the United States. Analysts have also cited lingering tensions over US-China trade relations following recent back and forth between Beijing and Washington.Among individual companies, Netflix slumped more than 10 percent after the streaming giant reported earnings that missed estimates. Netflix executives told financial analysts on an earnings call that absent the hefty cost in Brazil due to a tax dispute, it would have exceeded its operating margin forecast in the quarter.- Key figures at around 2055 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.7 percent at 45,590.41 (close) New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.5 percent at 6,699.40 (close)_New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 0.9 percent at 22,740.40 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.9 percent at 9,515.00 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.6 percent at 8,206.87 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.7 percent at 24,151.13 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: FLAT at 49,307.79 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 25,781.77 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,913.76 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1606 from $1.1600 on TuesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3356 from $1.3371Dollar/yen: UP at 151.99 from 151.93 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.90 pence from 86.76 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 2.1 percent at $62.59 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 2.2 percent at $58.50 per barrel