Stock market today: Asian markets surge higher after Wall Street takes a breather

Shares rolled higher in Asia on Thursday after U.S. stocks edged back from their records.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained more than 2% and U.S. futures and oil prices also advanced.

The rally in Asia followed an announcement that the Chinese government plans to give cash handouts or discount vouchers to the poor ahead of next week's National Day holidays. Such direct payments are unusual for China, but appear designed to address a weak point for the economy — faltering consumer spending.

A notice on the WeChat social media account of the Ministry of Civil Affairs said authorities would “issue a one-time living allowance to the extremely poor, orphans and other needy people on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of New China,” which is marked on Oct. 1, next Tuesday.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.7% to 19,461.25 and the Shanghai Composite index added 0.6% to 2,914.19.

The Nikkei in Tokyo advanced 2.5% to 38,812.94.

South Korea's Kospi jumped 2.1%, to 2,649.51, after semiconductor maker SK Hynix launched production of a new memory chip for artificial intelligence. SK Hynix shares jumped 8.8%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.8% to 8,187.60.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 5,722.26, a day after setting an all-time high for the 41st time this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.7% to 41,914.75 after likewise setting a record the day before. The Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1%, to 18,082.21.

Treasury yields ticked higher in the bond market after sinking the prior day on a surprisingly weak update on confidence among U.S. consumers. The worst drop in three years raised worries about the U.S. economy’s strength, but it also raised expectations for the Federal