Asia

Behind the controversy over the Trump administration’s approach to North Korea, a quiet campaign has been under way for more than a year at the State Department to pressure Pyongyang around the globe, and is beginning to show results.

The U.S. dollar turns negative against many of its major rivals on Friday after it initially rallied following a hurricane-ridden employment report that showed the first decline in job creation in seven years but better-than-expected wage growth.

The Dow and S&P 500 finished the week in negative territory on Friday, but the Nasdaq Composite managed to mark a fresh record after a key jobs report showed that the U.S. economy posted its first monthly decline in jobs in about seven years in September. However, the effect of hurricanes in the Gulf Coast and Florida obscured long-sought gains in wages. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed little changed at 22,773, the S&P 500 index finished slightly lower, off 0.1%, snapping an eight-day win streak to close at 2,549. The broad-market benchmark also halted its streak of record closes, the longest in 20 years, at six in a row. The Nasdaq Composite Index , meanwhile, booked a gain of less than 0.1%, but enough to post its 55th all-time high of 2017. For the week, the Dow rose 1.7%, the S&P 500 climbed 1.2%, while the Nasdaq logged a weekly return of 1.5%. Nonfarm payrolls shrank by 33,000 in September, undercut by hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a 75,000 increase in nonfarm jobs. The unemployment rate, however, fell to 4.2% from 4.4%, while wages increased by 0.5% to an average of $26.55 an hour, the Labor Department said Friday. In corporate news, data-center operator Switch Inc. jumped 23% in its debut as a public company.

Shares of Apple Inc. edged lower premarket Friday, after another report of a problem with an iPhone 8 Plus. Chinese state media reported that a device delivered there had split open,9to5Mac reported, reigniting concerns about the battery. Earlier this week, a customer from Taiwan and another from Japan reportedly sent pictures to Apple showing their phones split open, which was thought to be caused by the battery swelling due to gases inside the device. "We are aware and are looking into it," an Apple spokeswoman was quoted as having told MacRumors. Shares have gained 34% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 14% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 15%.

Stock markets in Asia posted broad gains Friday morning as Hong Kong’s benchmark index briefly reached its best level in a decade and Japan’s Nikkei moved closer to levels last seen in 1996.

U.S. stocks ended Thursday firmly in the green, adding to a series of records on the back of hopes around reforms to the tax code that could deliver a further fillip to assets perceived as risky like stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up about 114 points, or 0.5%, at 22,775, while the S&P 500 index climbed 14 points, or 0.6%, at 2,552, posting its sixth straight record close. That marks the longest such string of all-time closing highs since the eight straight records in 1997, according to WSJ Market Data Group. The technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index closed up about 50 points, or 0.8%, at 6,585. Technology and financial shares were among the best performing sectors on the day. Already in an uptrend, Wall Street got a midday boost after the House of Representatives passed a budget resolution--seen as setting the stage for an overhaul of the tax code. All three benchmarks finished at records for the third day in a row. In individual stocks, Netflix Inc. shares jumped 5.4% after the video-streaming giant raised the price of two of its memberships.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading near session highs Thursday midday, buoyed by sharp gains in components Apple Inc., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Goldman's shares alone, up $4.59, or 1.9%, were producing a more than 30-point tailwind for the price-weighted average, while Apple's climb, up $1.71, or about 1.1%, added another 12 points. A $1 move in any one of the benchmark's components translates to to a swing of 6.89 points. A steady rise in yields of U.S. Treasury bonds, notably the 10-year Treasury , has supported the banking sector, which tends to benefit from a higher interest-rate regime. More broadly, the S&P 500's financials sector was up 1.2%. Apple's stock looked set to rebound from a 0.7% decline in Wednesday trade after the iPhone maker's rival Alphabet Inc. rolled out new product roster, including a new cellphone. Most recently, the Dow was up 94 points, or 0.4%, at 22,759, the S&P 500 index was 0.5% higher at 2,550, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was showing a gain of 0.6% at 6,575. All three benchmarks were trading near intraday all-time highs.

A popular measure of Wall Street volatility was headed to an all-time low, highlighting a protracted period of subdued moves on Wall Street, as assets considered risky climb to records. The CBOE Volatility Index , often referred to as the market's fear gauge, was trading recently at 9.14, which would mark the lowest close for the indicator since Dec. 22, 1993 when it ended at 9.31. The gauge measures bullish and bearish options bets on the S&P 500 index 30 days in the future, and because stocks tend to fall faster than they rise, the indicator tends to be viewed as a gauge of how investors are perceiving the likelihood for a crash. The fear gauge moves in the opposite direction of the stocks. The volatility index is running at less than half its historical average of around 20 and has posted the largest number of prints below 10 in its entire history in just 2017. The fresh nadirs being put in on the index comes as the stock market is in the midst of what some investors and analysts refer to as a meltup, with stocks indiscriminately rising to peaks, with few sharp moves lower. On Thursday afternoon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading at an intraday record, up 0.4% at 22,745, and flirting with a psychological milestone of 23,000. The S&P 500 index was climbing 0.4% at 2,547, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was advancing 0.4% at 6,561. All three benchmarks finished at all-time highs to close Wednesday's trade.