Global stocks fall as tech stocks sell off after lackluster day on Wall Street

TOKYO (AP) — Global stocks were mostly lower Wednesday as technology stocks sold off after a lackluster day on Wall Street.

The French CAC 40 index fell 0.5% in early trading to 8,213.90. Germany’s DAX fell 0.3% to 24,251.58. Britain’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.6% to 9,487.52.

S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were little changed. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was almost flat and the Dow Jones gained 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite index lost 0.2%.

In the Asian market, Chinese markets fell after US President Donald Trump raised doubts about meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this month.

“Maybe it won’t happen, maybe it won’t happen,” he said at a luncheon for Republican Party senators at the White House.

However, Trump also said he hoped to “succeed” in negotiations with China.

“I’m going to see President Xi in two weeks. (…) We’re going to meet in South Korea,” he said. “We’re going to talk about a lot of things they want to talk about.”

Trump will travel to Japan and South Korea in the coming days, in part to finalize investment terms for those countries as part of a deal to minimize the tariff rates Trump imposes on foreign goods.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9% to 25,781.77, while the Shanghai Composite index fell less than 0.1% to 3,913.76.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index fluctuated between slight gains and losses a day after Parliament chose Sanae Takaichi as its first female prime minister.

It closed almost flat at 49,307.79, dragged down by declines in technology companies like SoftBank Group Corp., whose shares fell nearly 5%.

The government said Japanese exports rose 4.2% in September from a year earlier, boosted by robust shipments to Asia that offset a 13% decline in those destined for the United States. Auto shipments fell 24%, hit hard by Trump’s tariff hikes.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7% to 9,030.00, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.6% to 3,883.68.

Upcoming corporate earnings reports may also provide details on the strength of the U.S. economy at a time when the U.S. government shutdown has delayed important economic updates. That makes the Federal Reserve’s job more difficult as it tries to decide whether high inflation or a slowing job market is the more important problem for the economy.

Despite the shutdown, the Commerce Department will release its consumer price report on Friday, which could help guide the Fed’s interest rate policy. This will be the first publication of data by the government since the start of confinement on October 1.