World Shares Mixed on Wall St. Pullback12/09 04:50

   European markets were mixed and Asian shares mostly fell Tuesday after U.S. 
stocks pulled away from their record heights.

   BANGKOK (AP) -- European markets were mixed and Asian shares mostly fell 
Tuesday after U.S. stocks pulled away from their record heights.

   The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 
less than 0.1%.

   In Germany, the DAX gained 0.5% to 24,154.07, while the CAC 40 in Paris 
slipped 0.2% to 8,089.65. Britain's FTSE 100 was nearly unchanged at 9,640.58.

   In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index was the main outlier, gaining 
0.1% to 50,655.10.

   Chinese markets declined as investors watched for news from the Central 
Economic Work Conference, an annual planning meeting of the ruling Communist 
Party's leadership.

   Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.3% to 24,434.23, while the Shanghai Composite 
index shed 0.4% to 3,909.52.

   In South Korea, the Kospi lost 0.3% to 4,143.55 and the Taiex in Taiwan fell 
0.4%.

   India's Sensex declined 0.5%.

   The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gave up 0.5% to 8,585.90 after the Reserve Bank 
opted to keep its cash rate unchanged at 3.6%.

   Computer chip giant Nvidia's shares was up 1.7% in pre-market trading after 
President Donald Trump said he will allow it to sell its H200 computer chip 
used in the development of artificial intelligence to "approved customers" in 
China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China's 
leader Xi Jinping and "President Xi responded positively!"

   Nvidia's shares rose 1.7% on Monday.

   The move has wide potential ramifications, experts said.

   "This would allow China to speed up its buildout of AI infrastructure and 
increase the likelihood of Chinese AI models matching, or possibly even 
overtaking, frontier U.S. models," Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics 
said in an analysis.

   Investors are awaited a meeting of the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, where 
the U.S. central bank is expected to cut its benchmark interest rate to help 
counter a weakening jobs outlook.

   On Monday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% for its second loss in 11 days, but it 
remains less than 1% below its all-time high set in October.

   The Dow industrials dropped 0.4% and the Nasdaq composite edged 0.1% lower.

   Netflix dropped 3.4% after Paramount announced a bid in hopes of trumping 
Netflix's deal to buy Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Discovery rose 4.4% following 
the hostile buyout bid, and Paramount Skydance's stock climbed 9%.

   Paramount said it's offering $30 for each Warner Bros. Discovery share, as 
well as a quicker and easier way for investors to get their payout. Paramount 
is offering to buy all of Warner Bros. Discovery in cash, unlike Netflix's 
offer of cash and stock for just Warner Bros. following its pending split with 
Discovery.

   The board of directors for Warner Bros. Discovery had agreed to Netflix's 
offer last week, but it's already facing potential scrutiny from federal 
regulators. President Donald Trump said Sunday that a Netflix-Warner Bros. 
combination "could be a problem" amid worries about too much industry power 
sitting at one company

   The U.S. stock market has calmed following weeks of volatility.

   Stocks have already run to the edge of their records on widespread 
expectations that the Fed will cut its main interest rate for the third time 
this year. Lower interest rates can give the economy and prices for investments 
a boost, though their downside is that they can worsen inflation.

   The big question is what kind of hints the Fed will offer about where 
interest rates will go after Wednesday. Many on Wall Street are bracing for 
talk aimed at tamping down expectations for more cuts in 2026.

   Inflation has stubbornly remained above the Fed's 2% target, and Fed 
officials are notably split in their opinions about whether high inflation or 
the slowing job market is the bigger threat to the economy.

   In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 12 cents to 
$58.76 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, fell 11 cents 
to $62.38 per barrel.

   The U.S. dollar rose to 156.08 Japanese yen from 155.92 yen. The euro 
climbed to $1.1651 from $1.1638.