KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.1 percent to 22,525.18 and the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.4 percent to 2,787.68. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was flat at 27,726.36 and Australia’s S&P ASX 200 edged 0.1 percent lower to 6,234.80. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.8 percent to 2,287.68. Shares rose in Taiwan and Thailand but fell in Singapore and Indonesia.
WALL STREET: U.S. stocks climbed Thursday as Apple’s surge past the $1 trillion mark boosted technology shares. Apple jumped 2.9 percent to finish at $207.39. Electric vehicle maker Tesla soared 16.2 percent to $349.54 after it said production of its lower-cost Model 3 sedan is growing and CEO Elon Musk said the company doesn’t expect to need to raise more money from investors. Consumer products and health care companies rose as second-quarter results from corporate America continued to surpass investors’ expectations. The S&P 500 index rose 0.5 percent to 2,827.22. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 7.66 points to 25,326.16. The Nasdaq composite jumped 1.2 percent to 7,802.69 and the Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks added 0.8 percent, to 1,682.10.
US JOBS: Optimistic employers likely stepped up hiring in July thanks to strong growth and consumer spending. Economists forecast that a report to be released later Friday will show employers added 191,000 jobs last month, down from 213,000 in June but easily enough to lower the unemployment rate over time. The jobless rate is projected to decline to 3.9 percent, near an 18-year low, from 4 percent.
ANALYST’S PERSPECTIVE: “July’s jobs data will be received with strong expectations brewing ahead of the release,” Jingyi Pan of IG said in a commentary. “The leads for Asia are constructive and indeed we are seeing U.S. futures in the black this morning, aiding the recovery from yesterday’s steep drop.”
TOYOTA’S RECORD: Toyota Motor Corp. reported Friday that its quarterly profit climbed 7.2 percent in April-June to a record 657.3 billion yen ($5.9 billion), exceeding analysts’ forecasts thanks to strong sales in the U.S. and other overseas markets. But the company kept its full year profit forecast unchanged and downgraded its sales forecast, citing uncertainties over market trends and trade policies.
TRADE: The White House has escalated the trade conflict between the world’s two biggest economic powers, saying it may impose a 25 percent tax on $200 billion in imports from China, to take effect after a hearing and public comment. That is up from a 10 percent tax it proposed in June.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 6 cents to $68.90 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 1.9 percent to $68.96 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, shed 11 cents to $74.34 per barrel. It gained 1.5 percent to $73.45 a barrel in London.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 111.73 yen from 111.65 yen. The euro fell to $1.1587 from $1.1587.
AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/marley%20jay
