A currency trader watches monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. Asian shares were mixed Friday after a late-in-the-day wave of buying pushed the S&P 500 to a fresh record high. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) A currency trader reads documents pass by screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, right, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. Asian shares were mixed Friday after a late-in-the-day wave of buying pushed the S&P 500 to a fresh record high. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. Asian shares were mixed Friday after a late-in-the-day wave of buying pushed the S&P 500 to a fresh record high. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. Asian shares were mixed Friday after a late-in-the-day wave of buying pushed the S&P 500 to a fresh record high. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) A Wall Street sign is seen next to surveillance equipment outside the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021, in New York. Stocks are off to a mostly lower start on Wall Street Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021 a day after the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrials approached the record highs they set this summer. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Asian shares were mixed Friday after a late-in-the-day wave of buying pushed the S&P 500 to a fresh record high.
Benchmarks rose in Hong Kong and Tokyo but fell in Sydney and Shanghai.
An official newspaper, the Securities Times, said China Evergrande Group made an overdue bond payment on Friday. The property developer's struggle to reduce its 2 trillion yuan ($310 billion) of debt to comply with tighter official curbs on borrowing has prompted fears a default might trigger a financial crisis.
Evergrande wired $83.5 million to account for a bond payment that was due Sept. 23, the report said. The company's Hong Kong-traded shares gained 3.5%.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong climbed 0.1% to 26,046.44 and the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.1% to 3,591.25.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 added 0.4% to 28,833.48 while the Kospi in Seoul lost 0.2% to 3,000.02. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was flat at 7,415.50.
On Wall Street on Thursday, the benchmark S&P 500 bounced back from an early slide to rise 0.3% to 4,549.78, its seventh straight gain. That eclipsed the record high it set on Sept. 2. It is on pace for its third straight weekly gain.
The Dow slipped less than 0.1%, to 35,603.08, pulled lower by IBM's 9.6% slump after it reported quarterly revenue that fell shy of analysts’ forecasts. It is just below its all-time high set on Aug. 16.
The Nasdaq gained 0.6% to 15,215.70.
Smaller stocks edged higher. The Russell 2000 rose 0.3%, to 2,296.18.
A mix of companies that rely on direct consumer spending led the gains Thursday. Home Depot rose 1.8% and Pool Corp. gained 7.7%.
Financial companies also fell broadly. Capital One slid 4.4% and Discover Financial Services dropped 6.1%.
The uneven finish came as investors continued to review the latest company earnings reports, with global supply chain problems and the impact from rising inflation a key focus. Many companies have warned that the supply chain issues and overall higher costs will hurt operations and Wall Street is trying to gauge just how much it will sting corporate profit growth and margins.
Tesla rose 3.3% after reporting encouraging third-quarter profits, despite parts shortages and shipping delays. Footwear company Crocs vaulted 9.3% after reporting solid third-quarter results, noting it has taken steps to navigate its own supply chain headaches.
Several carmakers and automotive products companies made gains following Tesla’s latest earnings. Ford rose 3.2% and AutoZone rose 2.2%.
WeWork rose 13.5% in its second attempt to become a publicly traded company. The company, which provides shared workspaces, had a spectacular collapse during its first attempt to do so two years ago and is emerging after the pandemic closed millions of square feet of office space.
Shares in a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that is planning on taking a new media company launched by former President Donald Trump public soared after news of the venture broke late Wednesday. Digital World Acquisition vaulted 356%. The company, which went public Sept. 8, has merged with Trump Media & Technology Group, which plans to launch a social media app and streaming video service.
Bond yields moved higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 1.68% from 1.69% late Thursday.
Outside of earnings, investors received an encouraging update on the labor market. The Labor Department reported that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to a new low point since the pandemic erupted.
In other trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 37 cents to $82.13 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gave up 92 cents to $82.50 per barrel on Thursday.
Brent crude, used as a standard for global pricing, shed 47 cents to $84.14 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 114.03 Japanese yen from 113.99 yen late Thursday. The euro advanced to $1.1628 from $1.1624.
Before you consider Pool, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Pool wasn't on the list.
While Pool currently has a "Hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Just getting into the stock market? These 10 simple stocks can help beginning investors build long-term wealth without knowing options, technicals, or other advanced strategies.
Get This Free Report