World markets are mixed and Japan's shares dip after election leaves Ishiba's future in doubt
BANGKOK — World shares were mixed on Tuesday after U.S. stock indexes inched to more records at the start of a week of profit updates from big U.S. companies.
Germany's DAX lost 0.5% to 24,186.14 and the CAC 40 in Paris gave up 0.4% to 7,768.46. Britain's FTSE 100 edged 0.1% lower, to 9,009.34.
The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were virtually unchanged.
In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark surged and then fell back as it reopened from a holiday Monday following the ruling coalition's loss of its upper house majority in Sunday's election.
The Nikkei 225 shed 0.1% to 39,774.92.
Analysts said the market initially climbed as investors were relieved that Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed to stay in office despite the setback. But the election's outcome has added to political uncertainty and left his government without the heft needed to push through legislation.
A breakthrough in trade talks with the U.S. might win Ishiba a reprieve, but so far there's been scant sign of progress in negotiating away the threat of higher tariffs on Japan's exports to the U.S. beginning Aug. 1.
'Relief may be fleeting. Ishiba's claim to leadership now rests on political duct tape, and history isn't on his side. The last three LDP leaders who lost the upper house didn't last two months,' Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.4% to 25,082.78, while the Shanghai Composite index advanced 0.6% to 3,581.86.
South Korea's Kospi sank 1.3% to 3,169.94, with investors concerned over the Aug. 1 deadline for making a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump or facing 25% tariffs on all the country's exports to the U.S.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1% to 8,677.20.
India's Sensex gained 0.1%, while
In Thailand, the SET sank 1.1% after the government named Vitai Ratanakorn as the new future governor of the central bank. He is viewed as likely to be less independent than the current governor, raising concerns about the bank's independence, analysts said.
Vitai will replace Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput, when his term as governor ends in September.
Many of Trump's stiff proposed tariffs are paused after he extended the deadline for talks to allow more time to reach potential trade deals that could lower those rates. Aug. 1 is the next big deadline, at least for now.
U.S. stock indexes inched their way to more records on Monday to kick off a week full of profit updates from big U.S. companies.
General Motors will report its latest profit results later this week, along with such market heavyweights as Alphabet, Coca-Cola and Tesla.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1% and squeaked past its prior all-time high set on Thursday. The Dow edged down less than 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite added 0.4% to its own record.
Verizon Communications helped lead the way and rose 4%. The telecom giant reported a stronger profit and higher revenue for the latest quarter than expected and raised its forecasts for the full year.
That helped offset a 5.4% drop for Sarepta Therapeutics, which continued to fall after the Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that it asked the company to voluntarily stop all shipments of Elevidys, its gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, due to safety concerns.
Cleveland-Cliffs rallied 12.4% after the steel producer reported a smaller loss for the spring than analysts expected. It's a major supplier to the auto industry, and Trump's tariffs steer companies hoping to sell cars in the United States toward steel made in the country.
In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 55 cents to $65.40 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 54 cents to $68.67 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 147.67 Japanese yen from 147.38 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1690 from $1.1696.
Elaine Kurtenbach, The Associated Press
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Japan Forward
2 hours ago
- Japan Forward
Inside the LDP Showdown, Ishiba Resists Pressure to Resign
Just coming to light, this is the inside story of the July 23 meeting at Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) headquarters. In the room were Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (LDP president) and three former prime ministers: Chief Advisor Taro Aso, LDP Vice President Yoshihide Suga, and Ishiba's immediate predecessor, former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Although Ishiba reiterated after the meeting that he would remain in office, he was in fact urged to step down. The discrepancy between his statement and reality reflects a divergence in thinking. While the Prime Minister seeks to prolong the life of his administration, Aso and others aim to pave the way for his resignation and take control of the next political phase. Aso Confronts Ishiba It was 2:00 PM on April 23 in the President's Office at LDP headquarters in Nagatacho. Party elder and former leader Taro Aso and the others sat across from a visibly tense Ishiba, still reeling from a crushing defeat in the July 20 Upper House election. Aso, the most senior figure in the room, opened the discussion about the Prime Minister's resignation. "Ishiba's LDP can't win elections anymore," Aso said. "We need to address this." Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba answers questions from reporters after meeting with three former prime ministers. July 23, LDP headquarters (©Sankei by Shunsuke Sakamaki). Demand for Clarity Kishida followed: "It's important to review the election. But the party won't survive unless it clearly states what it intends to do with the administration." He was responding to Ishiba's desire for time to reflect on the Upper House results. Aso agreed, saying, "Kishida is right." Ishiba's relationship with the three former prime ministers is marked by complexity. Aso has long harbored resentment toward Ishiba, who once pressured him to step down during his own time in office. Kishida supported the Prime Minister in the September 2024 party leadership race. However, he has since grown distrustful, disappointed by Ishiba's failure to form a strong party lineup through appointments and his inability to deliver a clear message on economic and foreign policy. Politics Beyond Will Although Suga does not have a strained relationship with Ishiba, he remained reserved. He simply remarked, "It would be bad to split the party." This was in response to growing efforts within the LDP to gather signatures for a leadership recall and to convene a joint session of both houses of the Diet. In politics, some currents cannot be resisted by personal will alone. When Suga was prime minister, he was forced to step down amid criticism over his handling of the COVID-19 outbreak. Kishida, who had planned to run in the 2024 party leadership race, ended up taking responsibility for a political fund scandal involving unreported income within his faction. Ishiba, by contrast, appears to be clinging to his position despite having lost two national elections. During the hour-and-20-minute meeting, it was hard to say whether Ishiba, Aso, or the others shared a sense of urgency about the crisis facing Japan and its people. LDP Secretary General Hiroshi Moriyama (©Sankei by Nobuhiro Imanaka) Bypassing Consensus Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama, who had been present at the meeting, agreed to brief the public on the meeting's contents. However, before Moriyama spoke, the Prime Minister told reporters that he intended to remain in office. This had not been part of the four-person agreement. It's surmised that Ishiba was concerned that an early announcement of his resignation would prompt the opposition to demand a nomination election for a new prime minister during the scheduled August 1 extraordinary Diet session. He has also expressed determination to conduct his own review of the 80 years since the end of World War II. It is a period to which he is deeply attached. One former prime minister, however, was furious at Prime Minister Ishiba's unilateral declaration to stay on. "I don't think we should be endorsing his continued candidacy. It makes it look like we've approved of him staying in power. Don't be ridiculous!" RELATED: (Read the article in Japanese) Author: The Sankei Shimbun
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6 hours ago
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It is outrageous that the Prime Minister should be allowed to remain in his position just because such a flawed agreement has been reached. He should rightly announce his resignation as soon as possible. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets with US President Donald Trump in Kananaskis, western Canada, on June 16. (©Cabinet Public Relations Office) President Donald Trump has gone wild during his second term. He has taken a self-righteous approach of pressuring other countries by arbitrarily imposing tariffs on their exports to the US. A series of unjustified claims have emanated from the White House, such as blaming Japan for the lack of sales of American cars, which are imported tariff-free into Japan. Those claims contain glaring factual errors and are unacceptable. First, the Japan-US trade agreement concluded by Trump in his first administration confirmed that additional tariffs would not be imposed on Japanese motor vehicle imports. However, Trump has acted as if he were free to simply renege on this agreement. Wasn't that exactly why the Ishiba administration kept calling for the US to withdraw its high tariff measures? Of course, it was bound to be difficult to convince Trump to stop using tariffs only in the case of Japan. It is a weapon he obviously dearly loves, and concessions by Japan might have been unavoidable to a certain degree. However, that doesn't mean we can agree with Prime Minister Ishiba's self-adulation for having "achieved the largest reduction among countries with a trade surplus with the United States." It was evident all along that the US response would depend on a decision made by Trump personally. Nonetheless, Ishiba chose to leave it up to his Cabinet to manage. He displayed absolutely no initiative to negotiate directly with Trump in order to break the deadlock. Ishiba hardly deserves the plaudits he is awarding himself. 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July 21 (©Sankei by Akira Konno). With the conclusion of the negotiations, the government will now face other issues, including those involving domestic policies. However, Prime Minister Ishiba should not use these as an excuse to remain in power. He failed to attain his self-set minimum target for the number of ruling party seats in both the Lower and Upper House elections. As a consequence, the ruling parties lost their majorities in both houses of the Diet. It is the Prime Minister's responsibility to promptly announce his resignation. Even after his meeting with three former prime ministers from his own Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on July 23, Ishiba again reiterated his intention to remain in office. His brazenness is absolutely astonishing. It is unacceptable for him to continue to ignore the will of the Japanese people as expressed at the polls. There is a rising chorus of demands from LDP lawmakers and local organizations for Ishiba to step down. 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