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BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares have retreated after Wall Street added a bit more to its big rally from a day before, while U.S. futures and oil prices were lower.
Any lift in sentiment from a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping appeared to fade after Biden, pressed by a reporter on whether he trusted Xi, said he believed in trusting but verifying and conceded that China’s leader is a dictator.
“He is a dictator in a sense,” Biden said.
Biden and Xi emerged from their first face-to-face meeting in a year vowing to stabilize the fraught relationship between the world's two biggest economies. They showcased modest agreements to combat illicit fentanyl and re-establish military communications. Rifts on economic competition and global security threats persist, but Biden said they agreed to “pick up the phone” and talk if urgent issues arise.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.2% to 17850.33 and the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.5% at 3,056.09.
In other Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 shed 0.2% to 33,445.08 and the Kospi in Seoul edged 0.1% lower, to 2,486.33.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 sank 0.8% to 7,051.20.
Japan reported that its exports rose a meager 1.6% in October, down from a 4.3% increase in September, while its trade deficit shrank 70% thanks to a 12.5% decline in imports as oil prices fell. The figures augur further weakness for Japan's export manufacturers after the economy contracted at a 2.1% annual rate in the July-September quarter.
Shares rose in India, but fell in Bangkok.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 4,502.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5% to 34,991.21, and the Nasdaq composite edged up by 0.1% to 14,103.84.
Target helped lead the market with a 17.8% jump after it reported much stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Wall Street’s overall moves were tentative coming off its best day since April, when an encouraging report on inflation boosted investors’ hopes that the Federal Reserve may finally be done with its hikes to interest rates. That bolstered hopes the Fed can actually pull off the balancing act of getting inflation under control without causing a painful recession.
Halfway through November, the S&P 50 has already jumped 7.4%, which would make this its best month in a year if it does nothing else for two weeks.
Treasury yields rose Wednesday, retracing a bit of the steep drops from the day before that had helped stocks to rally so much. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.53% from 4.45% late Tuesday, adding some pressure onto financial markets.