Asian shares mostly lower; China, Japan closed for holidays

The Dow delivered a 6.1 per cent return during former President Donald Trumps first 100 days in office.The gains have come as large-scale coronavirus vaccination programs help people return to jobs and normal activity after more than a year of restrictions.The rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations, massive support from the US government and the Federal Reserve, and increasingly positive economic data have been driving expectations for a strong rebound for the economy and robust corporate profit growth this year.

Shares were mostly lower in Asia in thin trading Monday, with many markets including those in Tokyo and Shanghai closed for holidays. The declines follow a retreat Friday on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 gave up 0.7 per cent but still closed out its best month so far this year. Markets have mostly climbed in recent weeks as investors remain optimistic that the pandemic is slowly and steadily coming to a close, at least in the United States. The S&P 500 rose 5.2 per cent in April, its best monthly gain since November 2020, when President Joe Biden was elected. In much of Asia and many other countries, caseloads have surged and vaccination levels remain low. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.4 per cent to 28,324.30, and the Kospi in South Korea slipped 0.2 per cent to 3,123.47. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1 per cent higher to 7,034.80. Shares fell in Singapore and Taiwan. US futures were higher, with the contracts for both the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 up 0.3 per cent. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was steady at 1.62 per cent.

With many markets closed there was little in the way of news to drive trading. On Friday, the S&P 500 closed at 4,181.17. The index eked out a gain of less than 0.1 per cent for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5 per cent to 33,874.85 and the Nasdaq lost 0.9 per cent to 13,962.68.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fared worse than the broader market, falling 1.3 per cent to 2,266.45.

Investors backed away from technology, financial and communication stocks. Despite the decline, the S&P 500 ended April with a 5.2 per cent gain, its best month since November 2020, when President Joe Biden was elected. It logged a gain of about 28 per cent between November and April.

Under Biden, the Dow notched its best first 100 days under a new president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in 1933, according to LPL Financial, with a 9.9 per cent return as of April 29. The Dow delivered a 6.1 per cent return during former President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office.

The gains have come as large-scale coronavirus vaccination programs help people return to jobs and normal activity after more than a year of restrictions.

The rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations, massive support from the US government and the Federal Reserve, and increasingly positive economic data have been driving expectations for a strong rebound for the economy and robust corporate profit growth this year. That's helped stocks push higher and kept indexes near their all-time highs.

Trillions of dollars in government support are helping the US economy recover from the pandemic. The Commerce Department said US household incomes surged 21 per cent last month, driven largely by the USD 1,400 payments that went out to most Americans as part of President Biden's economic package. Consumer spending rose at the fastest pace in nine months.

The Biden administration is also pushing for more infrastructure spending to help further boost the economy, though that raises concerns over how that might affect taxes and inflation. To pay for his plans, Biden has proposed to nearly double the tax rate that Americans who make more than USD 1 million in a year pay on profits from stocks and other investments. The president also wants to impose a 21 per cent minimum tax on corporations' foreign earnings in a bid to stop companies from stashing profits in countries with low tax rates.

Corporate earnings have helped drive recent gains. More than half of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported their results, which show earnings growth of 54 per cent per cent so far for index, according to FactSet.

Investors will get another big dose of earnings reports to start off May, including results from drugmakers Eli Lilly, Merck as well as Pepsi, Colgate-Palmolive, the railroad CSX and drugstore giant CVS. Investors will also get April's jobs report this week.

In other trading, benchmark US crude oil shed 14 cents to USD 63.44 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gave up USD 1.43 on Friday to USD 63.58 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 19 cents to USD 66.57 per barrel.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)