World Shares Advance on Wall St. Rise  11/25 04:49

   European and Asian shares mostly gained on Tuesday after U.S. stocks rallied 
on hopes the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates soon.

   BANGKOK (AP) -- European and Asian shares mostly gained on Tuesday after 
U.S. stocks rallied on hopes the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates soon.

   The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 
0.1%.

   Germany's DAX edged 0.1% lower to 23,216.76 and the CAC 40 in Paris added 
0.1% to 7,965.77. Britain's FTSE 100 likewise gained 0.1%, to 9,542.55.

   In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 picked up 0.1% to 48,659.52 as a plunge 
in technology giant SoftBank's shares weighed on the market. It fell 10.3% on 
concerns that returns from its heavy investments in OpenAI may be threatened by 
the next generation Gemini artificial intelligenc e model that Google launched 
last week.

   In South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.3% to 3,857.78. Taiwan's Taiex jumped 
1.5%.

   Chinese markets also advanced. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng climbed 0.7% to 
25,894.55, while the Shanghai Composite index jumped 0.9% to 3,870.02.

   E-commerce giant Alibaba, which was due to report its earnings late Tuesday, 
gained 2.1% in Hong Kong.

   Australia's S&P/ASX rebounded to edge 0.1% higher, closing at 8,537.00.

   U.S. markets will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. A day 
later, it's on to the rush of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

   The U.S. stock market rallied on Monday, at the start of a week with 
shortened trading because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

   The S&P 500 climbed 1.5% in one of its best days since the summer. The Dow 
Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.7%.

   Stocks got a lift from rising hopes that the Fed will cut its main interest 
rate again at its next meeting in December, a move that could boost the economy 
and investment prices.

   The market also benefited from strength for stocks caught up in the 
artificial-intelligence frenzy. Alphabet, which has been getting praise for its 
Gemini AI model, rallied 6.3% and was one of the strongest forces lifting the 
S&P 500. Nvidia rose 2.1%.

   Monday's gains followed sharp swings in recent weeks, not just day to day 
but also hour to hour, caused by uncertainty about what the Fed will do with 
interest rates and whether too much money is pouring into AI and creating a 
bubble. All the worries are creating the biggest test for investors since an 
April sell-off, when President Donald Trump shocked the world with his 
"Liberation Day" tariffs.

   Despite all the recent fear, the S&P 500 remains within 2.7% of its record 
set last month.

   Several tests for the market lie ahead this week. One of the biggest will 
arrive Tuesday when the U.S. government will deliver data on inflation at the 
wholesale level in September.

   Economists expect it to show a 2.6% rise in prices from a year earlier, the 
same as in August. A higher-than-expected reading could deter the Fed from 
cutting its main interest rate in December for a third time this year, because 
lower rates can worsen inflation. Some Fed officials have already argued 
against a December cut in part because inflation has stubbornly remained above 
their 2% target.

   Traders are nevertheless betting on a nearly 85% probability that the Fed 
will cut rates next month, up from 71% on Friday and from less than a coin 
flip's chance seen a week ago, according to data from CME Group.

   In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 47 cents to 
$58.37 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 49 cents to 
$62.23 per barrel.

   The dollar fell to 156.30 Japanese yen from 156.91 yen. The euro rose to 
$1.1534 from $1.1521.

   Bitcoin rose 1.6% to $86,836. It was near $125,000 last month.