BANGKOK (AP) — Stocks mostly rose Tuesday in Europe and Asia after U.S. stocks posted a mixed finish ahead of events that could impact the market later in the week. Oil prices fell after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced new sanctions against Iran and warned that countries that persisted in doing business with the Islamic Republic would face retaliation. Germany’s DAX gained 0.5% to 26,240.76 and Paris’ CAC 40 added 0.3% to 8,480.52. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1% to 10,869.93. The S&P 500 future rose 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average future rose 0.2%. During Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.5% to 65,856.43. Shares of technology investor SoftBank Group rose 2.3%. The Kospi in South Korea reversed early losses, gaining 0.7% to 6,742.74 as traders resumed buying technology stocks, taking advantage of bargains. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was almost unchanged at 25,511.10, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2% to 3,889.44. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.7% to 9,164.60. Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.9%, while India’s Sensex lost 0.2%. On Monday, areas of the bond market that the U.S. Treasury Department has been trying to calm eased a bit, easing pressure on stocks. The S&P 500 fell 0.3%, while the Dow industrials added 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.8%. Technology stocks led the decline. They have seen big swings recently due to concerns that the frenzy around AI technology has driven prices too high and the huge demand for AI chips will falter if AI doesn’t generate enough profits. Chip giant Nvidia, a huge winner from the AI boom, lost 2.9% on Monday. It will deliver its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday and that could dictate the next big move for AI-related stocks. Micron Technology lost 5.8% and Broadcom fell 2.6%. In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.69% from 4.74% late Friday, returning to where it was last week before the U.S. Treasury Department announced a surprise move to increase the size of its planned Treasury bond buybacks. Longer-dated Treasury yields rose over the summer on concerns about high inflation, huge government debts and other factors. High yields make borrowing more expensive for everyone, not just the government, and have already raised mortgage rates and hurt the real estate industry. “The latest discussion about using cash from the Treasury General Account to help finance longer-term bond purchases gave the market something to chew on on Monday, and at first it liked the taste. Long-term yields fell and the curve flattened,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. Subscribe to Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the day’s biggest headlines. “But there’s a difference between forcing the bond market to blink for an afternoon and solving the underlying problem,” he said. New Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh will deliver a speech Friday at an annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the backdrop for previous policy announcements. Analysts say Warsh is likely to talk about inflation and how the Federal Reserve plans to address it. Oil prices are a major factor behind rising costs and Brent crude, the international standard, has been trading above the $72 per barrel level it was at before the war with Iran began in late February. Early Tuesday, Brent crude fell 2% to $88.74 per barrel. US benchmark crude oil lost 2.2% to $83.14 per barrel. Last month, Brent fluctuated between $72 and $102 as hopes rose and fell that the United States and Iran could reach a deal that would allow oil tankers to freely leave the Persian Gulf again. New US sanctions announced on Monday helped drag the value of the Iranian currency, the rial, to a record low against the US dollar. In other trading, the US dollar rose to 159.30 Japanese yen from 159.10 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1670, down from $1.1667.
