
Asian markets are mixed and Japan's shares slip after election leaves Ishiba's future in doubt
BANGKOK--Asian 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.
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 0.3% to 39,694.89.
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 in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3% to 25,057.11, while the Shanghai Composite index also was up 0.3%, at 3,568.78.
South Korea's Kospi sank 1.4% to 3,165.40, 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 was little changed at 8,666.30.
India's Sensex gained 0.3%, while the SET in Thailand was up less than 0.1%.
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% to 6,305.60 and squeaked past its prior all-time high set on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down less than 0.1% to 44,323.07.
The Nasdaq composite added 0.4% to its own record, closing at 20,974.17.
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.
Block, Jack Dorsey's company behind Square, Cash App and other tech brands climbed 7.6% in its first trading after learning it will join the widely followed and imitated S&P 500 index. It will take the place of Hess, which Chevron bought, before trading begins on Wednesday.
Cleveland-Cliffs rallied 12.4% after the steel producer reported a smaller loss for the spring than analysts expected. It shipped a record 4.3 million net tons of steel during the quarter, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said the company has begun to see 'the positive impact that tariffs have on domestic manufacturing' and other things.
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 71 cents to $65.24 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 69 cents to $68.52 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 147.62 Japanese yen from 147.38 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1691 from $1.1696.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Japan Today
26 minutes ago
- Japan Today
'#Ishiba Don't quit': unlikely support grows for Japan PM
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's future is uncertain but an unlikely campaign for him to stay was growing online on Friday By Hiroshi Hiyama and Tomohiro Osaki Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's future is uncertain but an unlikely campaign for him to stay was growing online this week, including from people who are his natural political opponents. The life raft has emerged since upper house elections on Sunday deprived Ishiba's coalition of an upper house majority, months after it suffered a similar disaster in the lower chamber. Despite Ishiba, 68, insisting that he has not discussed his resignation with members of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), multiple reports say that it is just a matter of time. Some conservative members of the LDP are collecting signatures to hold a special meeting to discuss a leadership election to oust Ishiba, Fuji TV reported on Friday. One reported signee is Sanae Takaichi, a hardline nationalist and onetime heavy metal drummer who lost a leadership contest to Ishiba in September. Takaichi, 64, would likely run again to lead the party -- and become Japan's first woman prime minister if she wins -- if Ishiba does depart. The prospect of someone as premier with hawkish views on Japanese history and China has fuelled online calls for the moderate Ishiba to remain in power under the hashtag "#Ishiba Don't quit". Some of the calls came from opposition politicians to the left of the LDP, including even from a Communist Party member of a local ward assembly. Ishiba "is the most reasonable LDP leader in recent memory", LaSalle Ishii, a newly elected lawmaker for the Social Democratic Party, said on X. "If he resigns, a far-right government will be born," the well-known comedian and voice actor said. Taro Yamamoto, the leader of small opposition party Reiwa Shinsengumi, was among the first to voice concern about Ishiba's replacement. "The question is, if he were not to continue, who is going to replace him instead?" he told reporters during a Monday news conference. "His economic policies are no good, but for Ishiba-san to continue, I think it's a safe choice." A few hundred people participated in a rally outside Ishiba's office Friday evening, with some holding up signs urging him to "never give up" and "persevere". Among them was 70-year-old Shigeru Koga, an opposition supporter who until the election day on Sunday had been calling on Ishiba's government to be brought down. But five days later, he said Ishiba is "still far better" than alternatives like Takaichi and Shinjiro Koizumi, the popular agriculture minister within LDP who Koga called "easily manipulable". "If the Takaichi government materialises, it would further give rise to forces like far-right Sanseito," Koga said, referring to the upstart "Japanese first" party. "To prevent that, and keep Japan safe, Ishiba must be brave and stand firm." Boomeranging tariffs Shortly after the Sunday's election, a Kyodo News survey put the approval rating for the Ishiba government at just 22.9 percent. But in that same poll, 45.8 percent of the public believed there was no need for him to resign. The LDP has governed almost non-stop since 1955, but voters have been deserting the party, including towards fringe groups like Sanseito. Factors include rising prices, notably for rice, falling living standards, and anger at corruption scandals within the LDP. The opposition is seen as too fragmented to form an alternative government. But being in a minority in both houses of parliament means Ishiba's coalition needs support from other parties to pass legislation. This comes just as Japan faces multiple challenges, including a ballooning social security budget to pay pensions for its rapidly ageing and shrinking population. A new trade deal announced this week with US President Donald Trump will see Japanese imports face a painful 15 percent tariff, although this was lower than a threatened 25 percent. "We'll evaluate it every quarter, and if the president is unhappy then they will boomerang back to the 25 percent tariff rates," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said afterwards. © 2025 AFP


Japan Today
26 minutes ago
- Japan Today
Taiwan foreign minister made visit to Japan: ruling LDP lawmaker
File photo taken in Taipei in May 2024 shows Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung recently made a rare visit to Japan, a lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said Friday, in a move likely to provoke China, which sees the self-ruled island as part of its territory. Keiji Furuya, who heads a cross-party group promoting relations with Taiwan, posted a photo of himself and Lin, apparently taken in Japan, on social media, without providing a detailed itinerary. Japan switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1972, and the latter regards Taiwan as a renegade province to be reunified, by force if necessary. Sanae Takaichi, a former economic security minister, and former Defense Minister Minoru Kihara were also in the photo, which included a caption saying that the LDP lawmakers exchanged views with Lin before his visit to the World Exposition in Osaka. Taiwan's Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Lin's trip schedule, saying it was a "private" visit. Lin also visited the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Tokyo, the democratic island's de facto embassy in Japan, becoming the first sitting foreign minister to do so, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported. Even though they no longer have diplomatic ties, Japan and Taiwan have maintained economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, with Japanese conservative lawmakers tending to support Taiwan. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday expressed his government's commitment to securing the safety of Japanese nationals conducting business in China, amid recent detentions of its citizens there on alleged espionage charges. "We will do our utmost as a government so that people can be engaged in business in China with peace of mind," Ishiba said during a speech to corporate executives. © KYODO


Japan Today
26 minutes ago
- Japan Today
U.S. chip maker Intel says revenue rose as it cut ranks
Silicon Valley chip maker Intel says it cut about 15 percent of its 'core workforce' in the recently ended quarter By Glenn CHAPMAN Intel this week posted quarterly revenue that topped market expectations, saying it has cut about 15 percent of its workforce to be "more agile." The U.S. chip maker also said it "will no longer move forward" with projects in Germany and Poland as part of a push to save billions of dollars. The struggling chip maker's earnings report came as rivals specializing in graphics processing units (GPUs) for artificial intelligence thrive due to rapid adoption of the technology. Intel is one of Silicon Valley's most iconic companies, but its fortunes have been dwarfed by Asian powerhouses TSMC and Samsung, which dominate the made-to-order semiconductor business. The company was also caught by surprise with the emergence of Nvidia as the world's preeminent AI chip provider. Intel's niche has been in chips used in traditional computing processes, steadily being eclipsed by the AI revolution. Intel reported $12.9 billion in sales in the recently ended quarter, topping forecasts, but logged a $2.9 billion loss that included $1.9 billion in restructuring charges. "Intel has completed the majority of the planned headcount actions it announced last quarter to reduce its core workforce by approximately 15 percent," the company said in an earnings release. "These changes are designed to create a faster-moving, flatter and more agile organization." Intel shares were down slightly in after-hours trades that followed the release of the earnings figures. Intel chief executive Lip-Bu Tan took the helm in March, announcing layoffs as White House tariffs and export restrictions muddied the market. Malaysia-born tech industry veteran Tan has said it "won't be easy" to overcome challenges faced by the company. Meanwhile, South Korean chip giant SK hynix reported record quarterly profits Thursday thanks to soaring demand for artificial intelligence technology. The world's second-largest memory chip maker dominates the market for high-bandwidth memory semiconductors and is a key supplier for US titan Nvidia. Riding the AI wave, last week Taiwan chip giant TSMC announced a surge in net profit for the second quarter. "Nvidia suppliers like SK hynix will continue to enjoy strong demand in the coming months and years for memory chips due to the high memory content needed to make AI chips functional," G. Dan Hutcheson of TechInsights told AFP. Dutch tech giant ASML last week said it booked higher net profits in the second quarter of 2025 compared with the same period last year. The firm, which makes cutting-edge machines for the manufacture of semiconductors, warned that the growth outlook for next year was somewhat less rosy than before. "Looking at 2026, we see that our AI customers' fundamentals remain strong," said Chief Executive Officer Christophe Fouquet in a statement. "At the same time, we continue to see increasing uncertainty driven by macro-economic and geopolitical developments," he cautioned. Washington has sought to curb exports of state-of-the-art chips to China, concerned that they could be used to advance Beijing's military systems and otherwise undermine American dominance in AI. © 2025 AFP