Asian shares press higher after Wall St record

By JOE McDONALD
AP Business Writer

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets are higher after Wall Street hit a record and Japanese inflation eased. Market benchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney advanced. Hong Kong declined. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index advanced 0.3%, putting it on track for a weekly gain. Investors are shifting focus from corporate earnings to the longer-term outlook for global economies and whether central banks might feel pressure to cool rising prices by rolling back stimulus faster than planned. Japan’s government reported October consumer inflation eased to 0.1% over a year earlier from the previous month’s 0.2%. The U.S. government reported the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell for a seventh week to a pandemic low of 268,000.