World stock markets lower after Wall St hits record again

Global stock markets were mixed Tuesday after Wall Street hit a record for an eighth day.

London opened little-changed while Frankfurt, Shanghai and Hong Kong advanced. Tokyo and Sydney declined.

On Wall Street, the future for the benchmark S&P 500 index was up less than 0.1%.

U.S. stocks were boosted Monday by gains for construction-related stocks after Congress last week approved a $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

Meanwhile, the deputy chairman of the Federal Reserve, Richard Clarida, said conditions to raise interest rates might not be met until late next year. Traders worry a spike in inflation might prompt central banks to withdraw stimulus that helped to boost stock prices.

“Investors will be on the lookout for any clues that signal an adjustment to central banks’ taper process and rate hikes expectations,” Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a report.

In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London lost less than 0.1% to 7,298.82 and the DAX in Frankfurt advanced 0.1% to 16,070.01. The CAC 40 in Paris shed less than 0.1% to 7,042.55.

On Wall Street, the future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off less than 0.1%.

On Monday, the S&P 500 added 0.1%. The Dow advanced 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.1%, also setting records.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2% to 3,507.00 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 0.8% to 29,285.46. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was 0.2% higher at 24,813.13.

The Kospi in Seoul lost 0.1% to 2,962.46 while Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 shed 0.2% to 7,434.20.

India’s Sensex sank 0.3% to 60,353.72. New Zealand, Bangkok and Jakarta advanced while Singapore declined.

Also Tuesday, Japan’s government reported wage growth fell to a three-month lost of 0.2% over a year earlier in September.

On Wall Street, steelmakers and other companies that stand to benefit from infrastructure spending also rallied following Congress’ passage of the infrastructure bill.

Nucor gained 3.6%. Vulcan Materials, which sells crushed stone and concrete, rose 4.9%. Equipment-maker Caterpillar rose 4.1%.

Investor worries about inflation have been soothed by stronger corporate profits.

Advanced Micro Devices jumped 10.1% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after announcing Facebook parent company Meta would use AMD chips in its data centers. Chipmaker Nvidia rose 3.5%.

The Labor Department is due to report wholesale inflation Tuesday and consumer inflation Wednesday.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 42 cents to $82.36 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 66 cents on Monday to $81.93. Brent crude, the price basis for international oils, added 37 cents to $83.80 per barrel in London. It gained 69 cents the previous session to $83.43 per barrel.

The dollar fell to 112.97 yen from Monday’s 113.24 yen. The euro was little-changed at $1.1588.