Global Stock Markets Higher Wednesday  05/25 05:37

   Global stock markets gained Wednesday after Wall Street sank on weak U.S. 
housing sales and a profit warning by a prominent social media brand.

   BEIJING (AP) -- Global stock markets gained Wednesday after Wall Street sank 
on weak U.S. housing sales and a profit warning by a prominent social media 
brand.

   London, Frankfurt, Shanghai and Hong Kong advanced. Oil prices rose more 
than $1 per barrel to stay above $110.

   Wall Street futures were mixed. On Tuesday, the benchmark S&P 500 index lost 
0.8%.

   "The overall mood in equity markets remains largely downbeat," Jun Rong Yeap 
of IG said in a report.

   In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London gained 0.5% to 7,519.16 and 
Frankfurt's DAX added 0.4% to 13,972.15. The CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.2% to 
6,268.63.

   On Wall Street, the S&P 500 future was less than 0.1% higher. That for the 
Dow Jones Industrial Average lost less than 0.1%.

   Investors are on edge about the impact of interest rate hikes in the United 
States and other Western economies to cool surging inflation, as well as 
Russia's war on Ukraine and a Chinese economic slowdown.

   On Tuesday, the Dow gained 0.2% while the Nasdaq composite, dominated by 
tech stocks, slid 2.3% after the warning by Snapchat's parent.

   Investors dumped social media stocks. Snap plummeted 43.1%, its biggest 
single-day drop ever. Facebook parent Meta slumped 7.6%. Google's parent fell 
5.1%.

   The S&P is down 18% from its Jan. 3 high, putting it on the brink of a bear 
market, or a 20% decline from the previous top.

   Homebuilders slumped after the government reported April sales of newly 
built homes plunged 26.9% from a year earlier. KB Home fell 2.7%.

   In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.2% to 3,107.46 while the 
Nikkei 225 in Tokyo shed 0.3% to 26,677.80. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 
0.3% to 20,171.27.

   The Kospi in Seoul rose 0.4% to 2,617.22 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 added 0.4% 
to 7,155.20.

   India's Sensex gave up 0.2% to 53,926.64. New Zealand, Singapore and Jakarta 
declined while Bangkok advanced.

   On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve is due to give insight into its 
decision-making by releasing minutes of its latest policy meeting.

   In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.28 to $111.05 per barrel in 
electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 52 
cents on Tuesday to $109.77. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil 
trading, advanced $1.16 to $111.85 per barrel in London. It rose 14 cents the 
previous session to $113.56.

   The dollar gained to 127.05 yen from Tuesday's 126.82 yen. The euro declined 
to $1.0669 from $1.0693.