Global stocks mostly rise as US inflation report looms

Global shares were mostly higher Wednesday boosted by a rally on Wall Street ahead of some potentially marketmoving reports due later in the weekFrances CAC 40 rose nearly 02 per cent in early trading to 687936 while Germans DAX added 03 per cent to 1481345 Britains FTSE 100 gained 02 per cent to 771023 The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was unchanged while that for the SampP 500 fell less than 01 per centIn Asian trading Japans benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 10 per cent to finish at 2644600 Australias SampPASX 200 gained 09 per cent to 719530 South Koreas Kospi edged up 17 per cent to 225598 Hong Kongs Hang Seng rose 05 per cent to 2143605 while the Shanghai Composite added 02 per cent to 312352Shares of Fast Retailing Co which operates the popular Japanese Uniqlo clothing retailer rose 14 per cent after the company announced that it was raising the salaries of its workers by up to 40 per centAlso read India about brotherhood and unity thats why Bharat Jodo Yatra is successful Rahul GandhiThe move is aimed at greatly strengthening its investment in personnel remunerating each and every employee appropriately for their ambition and talents as well as increasing the companys growth potential and competitiveness in line with global standards the company said in a statementOn Wall Street on Tuesday the SampP 500 rose 07 per cent while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 06 per cent The techheavy Nasdaq composite climbed 1 per centThe stock market has had a positive start to 2023 helped by hopes that cooling inflation and a slowing economy may convince the US Federal Reserve to ease off its marketsshaking hikes to interest rates Since early last year the Fed has been raising rates at a furious pace to bring painful inflation under control Such moves risk causing a recession and hurt investment pricesInvestors were hoping for some clues about where the Fed is heading from its chair Jerome Powell who spoke at a forum in Stockholm on Tuesday But he gave little news about ratesThe next big event for markets is likely Thursdays update on December US inflation at the consumer level Economists expect it to show price gains slowed further to 65 per cent from 71 per cent in November and from a peak of more than 9 per cent in the summerA worsethanexpected reading could dash the building hopes on Wall Street that the Fed may stop its hikes soon and perhaps even cut rates by the end of the year Some investors see the economy successfully walking the tightrope of slowing enough to snuff out high inflation but not so much as to cause a painful recessionPast rate increases and high inflation have already hurt economic activity around the world and the Fed has pledged to keep rates high for a while to ensure the job is done on inflation It doesnt envision any rate cuts until 2024The World Bank said Tuesday the global economy will come perilously close to a recession this year in its annual reportBig US companies will begin showing investors later this week how much profit they made during the last three months of 2022 Hot inflation has been squeezing customers wallets and raising costs for businesses threatening their earningsIn energy trading benchmark US crude sank 25 cents to USD 7487 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange It gained 49 cents to USD 7512 a barrel on Tuesday Brent crude the international standard lost 14 cents to USD 7996 a barrelIn currency trading the US dollar rose to 13258 Japanese yen from 13213 yen The euro cost USD 10740 up from USD 10737