World shares mostly gain ahead of earnings and data releases

By ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press Business Writer NEW YORK AP World shares were mostly higher on Tuesday after U S stocks drifted to a mixed quiet close at the start of a busy week of corporate earnings and economic statistics Germany s DAX gained to while the CAC was nearly unchanged at Britain s FTSE also was holding steady at The futures for the S P and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up In Asian trading Tokyo s markets were closed for a holiday Hong Kong s Hang Seng picked up to while the Shanghai Composite index edged lower to In South Korea the Kospi jumped to Australia s S P ASX rose to Taiwan s Taiex gained while the Sensex in India gained Markets have gotten a respite from the sharp swings that had rocked them as hopes rose and fell that President Donald Trump may back down on his exchange war The Wall Street Journal disclosed Monday that Trump was preparing following widespread speculation over the issue to adjust his tariffs on imports of autos and auto parts The Trump administration appears to have made little headway in finding a way forward with Beijing with both sides insisting the other necessities to make the first move Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaking on CNBC explained he deduced China wants a de-escalation in the business war I do have an escalation letter in my back pocket and we re very anxious not to have to use it Maybe they ll call me one day Bessent recounted Fox news in a separate interview Trump has ordered increases in tariffs on Chinese exports that combined add up to China has struck back with import duties on U S goods of up to though it has exempted specific items A great number of investors believe Trump s tariffs could cause a recession if left unaltered On Monday the S P inched up by extending its winning streak to a fifth day The Dow Jones Industrial Average added and the Nasdaq composite slipped Mixed trading for selected influential tech stocks ahead of their earnings reports this week pulled the S P back and forth between modest gains and losses for much of Monday Amazon fell Microsoft dipped Meta Platforms added and Apple rose Outside of Big Tech executives from Caterpillar Exxon Mobil and McDonald s may also offer clues this week about how they re seeing economic conditions play out Several companies across industries have already slashed their estimates for upcoming profit or pulled their forecasts entirely because of uncertainty about what will happen with Trump s tariffs A fear is that Trump s on-again-off-again tariffs may be pushing households and businesses to alter their spending and freeze plans for long-term venture because of how hastily conditions can change seemingly by the hour So far economic reports seem to show the U S market is still growing though at a weaker pace On Wednesday economists expect a review to say U S economic rise slowed to a annual rate in the first three months of this year down from a pace at the end of last year Most of reports so far have focused on details from before Trump s Liberation Day on April when he stated tariffs that could affect imports from countries worldwide The bulk jarring economic statistics lately have come from surveys showing U S consumers are getting much more pessimistic about the economic activity s future because of tariffs The Conference Board s latest reading on consumer confidence is due on Tuesday On Friday a description on the U S jobs industry which will show how numerous workers employers hired during all of April In other dealings early Tuesday benchmark U S crude oil lost cents to per barrel Brent crude gave up cents to per barrel The U S dollar bought Japanese yen up from yen The euro slipped to from