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Stocks Mostly Up Pre-Bell as Investors Await More Corporate Earnings

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The benchmark US stock measures were mostly pointing higher before the open Friday as investors await the week's final round of corporate earnings and track ongoing Middle East tensions, with no apparent signs of progress toward a peace deal between Washington and Tehran.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2% in premarket activity, while the Nasdaq was off 0.1%. The indexes finished Thursday's trading session in the green, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq logging new closing highs.

Oil giants Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) are scheduled to release their latest quarterly results before the bell, along with Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Estee Lauder (EL), Moderna (MRNA), Magna International (MGA) and Newell Brands (NWL).

Shares of Apple (AAPL) advanced 2.8% pre-bell as the iPhone maker's fiscal second-quarter results topped market estimates. Reddit (RDDT) climbed 16% after the social media platform recorded better-than-expected first-quarter results and issued an upbeat revenue outlook for the ongoing three-month period at the midpoint. Nvidia (NVDA) rebounded 0.4% following a 4.6% decline at the close of Thursday.

President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday that the US will maintain its naval blockade of Iranian ports, according to Bloomberg News. "Their economy is crashing, the blockade is incredible," Trump reportedly said. "So we'll see how long they hold out."

Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, reportedly said Thursday that Iran will defend its nuclear and missile capabilities.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil inclined 0.3% to $105.43 a barrel before the opening bell, while Brent increased 0.9% to $111.37.

US economic growth fell short of Wall Street's expectations in the first quarter as spending slowed amid inflationary pressures, government data showed Thursday.

Separate official data showed that inflation, as measured by the personal consumption expenditure price index, accelerated in March to the fastest pace since mid-2022 as the Middle East conflict sent energy prices soaring.

Treasury yields were down in premarket action, with the two-year rate nudging 0.1 basis point lower to 3.88% and the 10-year rate decreasing 0.8 basis point to 4.38%.

Friday's economic calendar has the final Purchasing Managers' manufacturing index for April at 9:45 am ET, followed by the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index for the same month at 10 am. The weekly Baker Hughes oil-and-gas rig count posts at 1 pm.

Gold fell 1.1% to $4,578 per troy ounce, while bitcoin rose 1.1% to $77,248.

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Tokyo Inflation Hits Four-Year Low as Oil, Yen Cloud Outlook

Tokyo inflation lost momentum again, underscoring the Bank of Japan's dilemma as price pressures build unevenly. Core consumer prices in the capital rose 1.5% in April, the slowest pace in four years and below the central bank's 2% target for a third straight month.The reading marked a fifth consecutive slowdown and came in under market expectations. A narrower gauge that strips out both fresh food and energy, which is also closely watched by policymakers, increased 1.9%, also easing from the prior month.The softer print partly reflects government fuel subsidies and one-off factors such as a sharp drop in nursery school fees, alongside moderating gains in durable goods and processed food. Energy prices continued to decline, though at a slower pace.Still, the calm may not last. Rising oil prices tied to the Middle East conflict and a weaker yen are expected to push up import costs in the months ahead.The outlook is already complicating policy decisions.The BOJ kept rates unchanged this week in a split decision, even as some officials leaned toward tightening. Governor Kazuo Ueda signaled flexibility, leaving room to wait as risks to growth intensify.Currency moves add another layer. Authorities stepped into the foreign exchange market to support the yen after it slid near 160 per dollar, highlighting concern that prolonged weakness could further inflate import bills."We expect the BOJ to guard against an inflation overshoot. That strengthens the case for a 25-basis-point hike in June, but the latest reading suggests it's far from certain," said Bloomberg economist Taro Kimura."The central bank is also watching uncertainty around the Iran war and the government's willingness to support growth amid a crude oil squeeze."

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Tokyo Inflation Hits Four-Year Low as Oil, Yen Cloud Outlook

Tokyo inflation lost momentum again, underscoring the Bank of Japan's dilemma as price pressures build unevenly. Core consumer prices in the capital rose 1.5% in April, the slowest pace in four years and below the central bank's 2% target for a third straight month.The reading marked a fifth consecutive slowdown and came in under market expectations. A narrower gauge that strips out both fresh food and energy, which is also closely watched by policymakers, increased 1.9%, also easing from the prior month.The softer print partly reflects government fuel subsidies and one-off factors such as a sharp drop in nursery school fees, alongside moderating gains in durable goods and processed food. Energy prices continued to decline, though at a slower pace.Still, the calm may not last. Rising oil prices tied to the Middle East conflict and a weaker yen are expected to push up import costs in the months ahead."Core consumer inflation is likely to accelerate due to cost-push factors from the Middle East conflict, which will push up not just prices for ⁠energy but various items," Masato Koike, senior economist at Sompo Institute Plus, was quoted by Reuters as saying.The outlook is already complicating policy decisions.The BOJ kept rates unchanged this week in a split decision, even as some officials leaned toward tightening. Governor Kazuo Ueda signaled flexibility, leaving room to wait as risks to growth intensify.Currency moves add another layer. Authorities stepped into the foreign exchange market to support the yen after it slid near 160 per dollar, highlighting concern that prolonged weakness could further inflate import bills.

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Wuliangye Yibin's First-Quarter 2026 Profit Nearly Tops Full-Year 2025 Figure

Wuliangye Yibin's (SHE:000858) first-quarter attributable profit surged 83% from the year-ago period on higher revenue despite surging sales costs.The baijiu distillery logged an attributable profit of 8.06 billion yuan during the three months through March 31, higher than 4.42 billion yuan recorded in the year-ago period, according to an after-hours filing on Thursday.The company also attributed the higher profit to a lower base in the year-ago period.First-quarter profit nearly topped the profit recorded for the whole of 2025 at 8.95 billion yuan, down 72% from 31.9 billion yuan in the year-ago period.Singapore-based investment intelligence platform Smartkarma estimated a net profit of 11.16 billion yuan.Q1 earnings per share jumped 83% to 2.0772 yuan from 1.1378 yuan.Wuliangye Yibin's revenue grew 34% to 22.8 billion yuan from 17.1 billion yuan in the prior-year period.Total operating costs jumped 11% to 12.2 billion yuan from nearly 11 billion yuan a year earlier, the baijiu manufacturer said in its filing.Sales costs surged 145% to 3.67 billion yuan from 1.49 billion yuan.The jump could mean Wuliangye is either actively increasing channel development investment and brand promotion or subsidizing dealers facing pricing pressures, Futu said in its digital platform, Futubull.Net cash flow from operating activities turned to a negative 2.54 billion yuan from positive inflows of 15.8 billion yuan in the year-ago period.A high volume of collected bills due to market changes caused the negative cash flow, Futu said, citing Wuliangye.Cash and cash equivalents stayed at 1.3 times higher than the annual revenue, Futu said.Meanwhile, the wine maker plans to repurchase between 8 billion yuan and 10 billion yuan of shares for up to 153.59 yuan apiece, according to a separate disclosure.

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