Stock market today: Global shares rise following Wall Street rally on healthy earnings

Global shares traded mostly higher Thursday following a Wall Street rally spurred by strong corporate earnings reports. France’s CAC 40 edged up 0.3 percent to 7,912.19 in early trading, while Germany’s DAX rose 0.7 percent to 21,710.10. Britain’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.8 percent to 8,694.89.

US shares were set to drift higher, with Dow futures up 0.1 percent to 45,059.00 and S&P 500 futures rising 0.1 percent to 6,093.75. In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.6 percent to finish at 39,066.53. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.2 percent to 8,520.70. South Korea’s Kospi edged up 1.1 percent to 2,536.75. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng increased 1.4 percent to 20,891.62, while the Shanghai Composite added 1.3 percent to 3,270.66.

In Japan, shares of Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Corp. both rose after Japanese media reported they were ending talks to establish a joint holding company. Neither company confirmed the report. An update on the talks is expected by mid-February, but no date has been set. Chinese stocks have performed well recently following news on Chinese tech startup DeepSeek, which appears to have matched American companies at the forefront of generative AI at a fraction of the cost.

Uncertainty continues to loom over the global economy because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. After initially unsettling financial markets earlier in the week, concerns about a potentially damaging global trade war have eased somewhat after Trump granted 30-day tariff reprieves to both Mexico and Canada. This has boosted traders’ hopes that Trump views tariffs as a negotiating tactic rather than a long-term policy.

Traders are closely monitoring the potential for talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Trump. “Although no call has taken place yet, markets may find some relief in the absence of new trade hostilities,” said Anderson Alves at ActivTrades. Meanwhile, Trump has proceeded with tariffs on Chinese goods, and further actions, such as tariffs on autos from the European Union, are anticipated. This could trigger a one-time increase in inflation, potentially pushing a key measure of underlying inflation trends to 2.6 percent in December, exceeding the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target.

In energy trading, benchmark US crude added 17 cents to $71.20 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 10 cents to $74.71 a barrel. In currency trading, the US dollar edged up to 152.58 Japanese yen from 152.55 yen. The euro cost $1.0369, down from $1.0407.