Asia-Pacific shares trade mixed, tracking Wall Street’s struggle for direction

Stocks fought for direction Tuesday, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished higher.

The 30-stock index gained 104.40 points, or 0.31%, to close at 33,733.96. The S&P 500 dipped 0.07% to settle at 4,016.95, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.27% to end at 11,334.27.

— Samantha Subin

Correction: An earlier version of this blog misstated the Dow’s move for the session.

— Lauren Feiner, Samantha Subin

Manufacturing and services activity slowed again in January as signs of a looming recession build.

Flash readings from S&P Global released Tuesday morning indicated both sectors in contraction. The services purchase managers index registered a 46.6 reading, up from 44.7 in December but still in contraction area. Likewise, the manufacturing reading was at 46.8, up 0.6 percentage points from the previous month.

Readings below 50 in the surveys indicate contraction as the indexes indicate the percentage level of businesses reporting expansion.

“The US economy has started 2023 on a disappointingly soft note, with business activity contracting sharply again in January,” said Chris Williamson, S&P Global’s chief business economist. “Although moderating compared to December, the rate of decline is among the steepest seen since the global financial crisis, reflecting falling activity across both manufacturing and services.”

The reports also indicated that input prices rose in January after several months of softening trends.

— Jeff Cox