Global benchmarks mostly rise ahead of US Fed chair's speech

Global shares mostly rose Thursday, as market optimism got a boost from a rally on Wall Street on better-than-expected profit reports from major companies.

France's CAC 40 rose 0.4% to 7,556.62 in early trading, while Germany's DAX added 0.4% to 18,515.22. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.4% to 8,314.16. U.S. shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures rising 0.1% to 41,055.00. S&P 500 futures gained nearly 0.1% to 5,646.50.

Trading is likely to stay relatively quiet ahead of the annual conference of central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will give a much-anticipated speech on Friday. The hope is he'll offer clues about how deeply and quickly the Fed will begin cutting interest rates in September after it jacked them to a two-decade high to beat inflation.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.7% to finish at 38,211.01. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% to 8,027.00.

South Korea's Kospi rose 0.2% to 2,707.67 after the Bank of Korea decided at its monetary policy meeting to keep rates unchanged. The vote to keep the base rate the same at 3.50% was unanimous, according to the bank's statement.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 1.4% to 17,641.00, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.3% to 2,848.77.

Worries have been growing about whether shoppers in the United States can keep up their spending and keep the slowing economy out of a recession. Inflation is slowing, but prices remain much higher than before the pandemic.

A preliminary revision released by the U.S. government suggested the economy created 818,000 fewer jobs in the year through March than earlier reported. That's a big number and adds to evidence of a cooling job market.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 4 cents to $71.97 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, edged up 18 cents to $76.23 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 145.68 yen from 145.14 yen. The euro cost $1.1138, down from $1.1153.