Investing.com - Tuesday saw mixed openings for Asia-Pacific shares, following an uptick in US stocks overnight as investors digested earnings results from major financial companies and the growing potential for a second Trump administration.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dipped slightly by 0.1%, South Korea's KOSPI 200 added 0.1%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 saw a 0.5% rise.
Stateside, all major stock indexes saw an increase, and government-bond yields rose as investors considered the possible return of the "Trump trade" after an assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Market participants had much to digest, including earnings from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) and BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK), the potential for a second Trump term, and public comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high of 40211.72, its first since May, closing up 0.5%. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite also saw gains, rising by 0.3% and 0.4% respectively.
Anticipation of a Trump victory in the upcoming presidential election has led to a resurgence of the "Trump trade", with investors predicting that a second term for Trump would bring tariffs and tax cuts that could reignite inflation. Consequently, longer-dated bond yields have risen, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbing to 4.231% from 4.187% on Friday.
In the corporate world, shares of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) continued their upward trend, with the electric-vehicle maker adding 1.8%, marking a more than 40% increase over the past month. Similarly, Goldman Sachs' shares rose 2.6% after the company reported soaring profits from a year earlier. However, BlackRock shares declined modestly despite reporting faster growth and a record $10.6 trillion in assets under management.
The rest of the week promises more food for thought for investors, with earnings reports from Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX), and United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL), as well as data on U.S. retail sales, housing starts and a rate decision from the European Central Bank.
On the commodities front, Brent crude oil slightly dipped by 0.1% to US$84.94 a barrel, while gold prices remained steady at US$2,422.19.
In China, shares closed mixed as investors processed the slower-than-expected 2Q GDP and kept a close eye on any potential stimulus or policy signals from the Third Plenum. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.5% to close at 18,015.94, influenced by weaker consumer stocks.
Indian shares saw a minor rise, supported by bank and auto stocks. Investors are eagerly awaiting the release of fiscal 1Q earnings later this week from major companies, including Infosys, Wipro, and Reliance Industries.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 Index in the U.K. fell by 0.8% to 8182.96. Other European markets also closed lower, with the STOXX Europe 600 Index down 1.0% to 518.73, Germany's DAX slipping 0.8% to 18,590.89, and France's CAC 40 falling 1.2% to 7,632.71