Global shares rise following Wall Street rally on healthy earnings

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were trading mostly higher Thursday, after a Wall Street rally that followed profit reports from major companies.

France's CAC 40 edged up 0.3% to 7,912.19 in early trading, while Germany's DAX rose 0.7% to 21,710.10. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.8% to 8,694.89. U.S. shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures edging up 0.1% to 45,059.00. S&P 500 futures rose 0.1% to 6,093.75.

In Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.6% to finish at 39,066.53. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.2% to 8,520.70. South Korea’s Kospi edged up 1.1% to 2,536.75. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.4% to 20,891.62, while the Shanghai Composite added 1.3% to 3,270.66.

In Japan, shares of Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Corp. both rose after Japanese media said they were ditching their talks to set up 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 lately following news on Chinese tech startup DeepSeek, which seems to have caught up with American companies at the forefront of generative AI at a fraction of the cost.

Uncertainty is also hanging over the global economy because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. After rocking financial markets around the world at the start of this week, worries about a potentially punishing global trade war have eased a bit after Trump gave 30-day reprieves for tariffs on both Mexico and Canada. That bolstered traders’ hopes that Trump sees tariffs as merely a tool for negotiation, rather than as a long-term policy.

“Traders are closely watching for potential talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. 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.

In the meantime, Trump has pressed ahead with tariffs on Chinese goods, and Mericle expects tariffs to hit autos from the European Union, among other potential moves. That could drive a one-time boost to inflation, which could leave a widely followed measure of underlying inflation trends at 2.6% in December, above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S 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 U.S. dollar inched up to 152.58 Japanese yen from 152.55 yen. The euro cost $1.0369, down from $1.0407.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.