BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly lower Tuesday in Asia and U.S. futures were flat after stocks slipped on Wall Street.
Crude oil prices were little changed and gold and silver resumed climbing.
With just two trading days left before the year ends, most big investors have closed out their positions and volume has been thin. Most global markets will be closed Thursday, New Year’s day, and some will remain closed on Friday.
Tokyo’s Nikkei edged less than 0.1% lower to 50,519.12.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 0.5% to 25,751.64, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.1% to 3,961.21.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% lower to 8,719.10.
South Korea’s Kospi picked up less than 2 points, to 4,221.64, while Taiwan’s Taiex lost 0.2%.
On Monday, stocks slipped in quiet trading on Wall Street.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 6,905.74. The benchmark index is still up more than 17% for the year and it remains on track for its eighth monthly gain in a row.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% to 48,461.93, while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.5%, to 23,474.35.
Big technology stocks with outsized valuations were among the heaviest weights on the market. Nvidia and several other companies focusing on AI or benefiting heavily from the developing technology have become some of the most valuable in the world.
Nvidia fell 1.2% and Broadcom fell 0.8%.
Tech shares have wobbled recently as investors have grown skeptical over the whether the eventual payoff will justify hefty investments in artificial intelligence.
Energy stocks gained ground Monday along with rising oil prices. U.S. benchmark crude jumped 2.4% to settle at $58.08 per barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 2.1% to settle at $61.94 a barrel. Exxon Mobil rose 1.2%.
Early Tuesday, U.S. crude was unchanged and Brent had lost 1 cent to $61.48 per barrel.
Gold and silver prices resumed their upward trajectory after pulling back on Monday when the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, one of the largest trading floors for commodities, asked traders to put up more cash to make bets on precious metals.
The price of gold gained 0.9% early Tuesday after falling 4.6% the day before. It’s up about 64% for the year.
Silver prices gained 5.2% after slumping 8.7% on Monday. They have more than doubled in 2025.
Treasury yields fell in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.11% from 4.13% late Friday.
Treasury yields have fallen significantly from the start of the year, after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate to help counter a slowing jobs market. That risks heating up inflation that is already stubbornly above the central bank’s target rate of 2%. Interest rate cuts could boost the economy by making loans less expensive, but that benefit could be nullified by rising inflation stunting economic growth.
In other dealings early Tuesday, the U.S. dollar slipped to 156.03 Japanese yen from 156.05 yen. The euro rose to $1.1779 from $1.1774.
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AP Business Writer Damian J. Troise contributed to this story.
