World Shares Retreat Thursday          09/10 04:55

   Shares in Europe and Asia were mostly lower Thursday following a retreat on 
Wall Street as the price of crude oil again traded above $100 a barrel.

   BANGKOK (AP) -- Shares in Europe and Asia were mostly lower Thursday 
following a retreat on Wall Street as the price of crude oil again traded above 
$100 a barrel.

   The future for the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial 
Average was up 0.4%.

   In Germany, the DAX fell 0.2% to 25,535.88. The CAC 40 in Paris edged 0.2% 
higher, while Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.2% to 10,651.40.

   The price of Brent crude jumped 3.4% on Wednesday, surging above $100 a 
barrel for the first time since July. It added another 0.3% early Thursday, to 
$101.52 a barrel.

   U.S. benchmark crude gained 0.4% to $96.42 a barrel.

   The latest attacks between the U.S. and Iran are stifling the flow of oil 
through the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday 
that oil prices likely won't fall until after U.S. midterm elections.

   In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 reversed earlier losses, gaining 0.2% 
to 65,270.95 and the Kospi in South Korea fell 0.3% to 7,033.92.

   Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.3% to 24,954.47, while the Shanghai Composite 
index gave up 0.4% to 3,934.40.

   In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 1.2% to 8,819.40.

   Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.5% and India's Sensex was nearly unchanged.

   On Wednesday, the S&P 500 index fell 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average 
dropped 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite gave up 0.6%. The indexes are all on 
track for a weekly loss.

   Oil prices drove much of the action on Wall Street. The U.S. destroyed five 
Iranian tankers on Tuesday in a series of attacks between the two nations. The 
conflict that began in February has essentially shut down traffic in the Strait 
of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world's oil supply passed before the war began.

   Retailers were among the companies that pulled the market lower. Amazon fell 
1.8%, Starbucks lost 1.9% and Home Depot dropped 1%. Every sector within the 
benchmark S&P 500 declined except for energy, which rose as oil companies 
notched gains. Exxon Mobil rose 2.2% and Chevron added 1.9%.

   The jump in oil prices over the course of the war has pushed prices for many 
goods higher. Gasoline prices in the U.S. are up about 32% from a year ago to 
$4.22 per gallon. Higher fuel costs cut into household budgets directly and 
also indirectly raise prices for goods because of higher shipping costs.

   The price of diesel, which can have an outsized impact on consumers because 
it is used in shipping and production, hit an all-time high Friday and has 
continued to climb since. The average price for a gallon reached $5.94 
overnight and is now 9 cents higher than it was Friday.

   Inflation was already stubbornly high when the U.S. started its war against 
Iran because of the U.S. trade war with much of the world.

   An update on wholesale prices is due later Thursday with the release of the 
Producer Price Index for August. It measures the prices businesses pay for 
goods before they reach customers. That report will be followed up Friday with 
the release of the Consumer Price Index, or CPI, for August, which shows the 
more direct price impact for households.

   The latest reports are expected to show that the rate of inflation remains 
above 3%, above the Federal Reserve's target rate of 2%.

   Elsewhere on Wall Street, shares of Meta Platforms rose 6.6% as the parent 
company of Instagram and Facebook launched a personal artificial intelligence 
agent, Muse, for people 18 and over who are looking for help with day-to-day 
tasks like schedules and shopping.

   Rising Treasury yields in the bond market were also weighing down stocks on 
Wall Street Wednesday.

   The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that it would buy back up to $6 
billion in long-term debt. That follows an announcement in August previewing 
plans for an unusually large buyback in an effort to contain rising yields, 
which make it more expensive for U.S. companies to borrow money and also weigh 
down other investments, such as stocks.

   Bond yields were holding steady prior to the announcement, but gained ground 
shortly after.

   In other dealings early Thursday, the U.S. dollar rose to 153.58 Japanese 
yen from 153.54 yen. The euro rose to $1.1639 from $1.1632.