World Shares Mixed After Wall St. Rally02/19 04:40

   European shares opened lower and Asian shares were mostly higher Thursday 
after a rally on Wall Street that was led by computer chip giant Nvidia.

   (AP) -- European shares opened lower and Asian shares were mostly higher 
Thursday after a rally on Wall Street that was led by computer chip giant 
Nvidia.

   Oil prices rose as media reports said the likelihood was rising of U.S. 
conflict with Iran.

   President Donald Trump has been weighing whether to take military action 
against Iran as his administration surges military resources to the region 
while holding indirect talks with Tehran over its nuclear program. That is 
raising concerns that any attack could spiral into a larger conflict in the 
Middle East.

   U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 94 cents to $65.99 per barrel. Brent crude, 
the international standard, picked up 98 cents to $71.33.

   Germany's DAX lost 0.5% to 25,157.56, while the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.6% 
to 8,379.90.

   Britain's FTSE 100 gave up 0.4% to 10,647.82.

   The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while that for the Dow Jones 
Industrial Average was virtually unchanged.

   Markets in Greater China were closed for Lunar New Year holidays, while some 
others in the region reopened for trading.

   In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.6% to 57,467.83, while in South Korea, the 
Kospi jumped 3.1% to 5,677.25 as markets reopened following holidays earlier in 
the week. Samsung Electronics, the market's biggest heavyweight, gained 4.9%.

   Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.9% to 9,086.20.

   Southeast Asian markets surged, with Thailand's SET up 1.7%. India's Sensex 
shed early gains to fall 1.1%.

   On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 
added 0.3%. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.8%.

   Nvidia helped lift the market and climbed 1.6% after Meta Platforms 
announced a long-term partnership where it will use millions of chips and other 
equipment from Nvidia for its artificial-intelligence data centers.

   "No one deploys AI at Meta's scale," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said. Because 
his company is the most valuable on Wall Street, Nvidia's stock was the single 
most powerful force pulling the S&P 500 higher.

   That performance demonstrated the upside of AI development for the U.S. 
stock market. But investors have also focused on the potential downsides 
recently, which has led to sharp swings in share prices.

   Meta's stock fell as much as 1.7% before recovering and rising 0.6%.

   Another worry is that if AI succeeds in creating tools to do complicated 
tasks more cheaply, it may undercut companies in industries as far flung as 
software, legal services and trucking logistics. Investors have suddenly and 
aggressively sold stocks of companies seen as under threat in what analysts 
have likened to a "shoot first-ask questions later" mentality.

   Several profit reports from companies helped to lift stocks Wednesday. They 
continued what's been a strong reporting season for the big U.S. companies in 
the S&P 500.

   Outside of earnings reports, Moderna jumped 6.1% after saying regulators at 
the Food and Drug Administration will review its flu vaccine candidate after 
earlier refusing to consider it.

   Reports on the economy were better than expected, with one saying industrial 
production improved last month. Another said orders for computers, fabricated 
metal products and other long-lasting manufactured goods rose more in December 
than economists had forecast, when not including airplanes and other 
transportation equipment. A third report said homebuilders broke ground on more 
new homes in December than anticipated.

   Such strong data could encourage the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates 
steady.

   The Fed has put its cuts to interest rates on hold, but many on Wall Street 
expect it to resume later this year. The widespread forecast is that will come 
during the summer, after a new chair is scheduled to step in atop the Fed.

   Minutes released Wednesday from the Fed's last meeting showed many officials 
want to see inflation fall further before they would support additional 
interest rate cuts this year.

   Lower rates can give a boost to the economy and prices for investments, but 
that comes at the cost of potentially worsening inflation.

   In other dealings early Thursday, the dollar bought 154.80 Japanese yen, 
down from 154.83 yen. The euro rose to $1.1800 from $1.1782.

   The price of gold gained 0.6% while that for silver was up 2.1%.

   The price of bitcoin rose 1% to $66,900.