THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. APs earlier story follows below.

TOKYO (AP) Global shares were mostly higher Friday after Wall Street benchmarks fell on worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates.

European shares were mixed in early trading as official data showed consumer prices in European Union countries using the euro currency eased but still rose a painful 9.2% in December. The European Union statistics agency Eurostat said it was the slowest increase since August.

Frances CAC 40 edged up nearly 0.1% to 6,766.79 in early trading and Britains FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 7,647.10.

Germanys DAX lost 0.2% to 14,401.92 after official figures showed factory orders dropped 5.3% in November compared with the previous month, on a sharp drop in foreign demand. New orders, an important indicator for Europes biggest economy, fell for the third time in four months following a 0.6% uptick in October.

Hot readings on the U.S. jobs market Thursday got traders thinking the Fed will need to keep inflicting pain on the economy to fight surging prices. Inflation has been easing from a peak of 9.1% in June to 7.1% in November and investors have been hoping for signs that could prompt the Fed to ease up on applying the brakes to the economy with high interest rates. Those hopes have been dashed so far.

The strong labor market reports set the stage for the release on Friday of the Labor Departments snapshot of hiring in December.

Overall risk sentiments could lean more toward a wait-and-see in the lead-up to the U.S. job report later, lacking a clear conviction in market direction from Wall Street over the past few days, Yeap Jun Rong, market analyst at IG, said in a report.

In Asian trading, Japans benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.6% to finish at 25,973.85. Australias S&P/ASX 200 added 0.7% to 7,109.60. South Koreas Kospi gained 1.1% to 2,289.97. Hong Kongs Hang Seng erased earlier gains, edging 0.3% lower to 20,991.64. The Shanghai Composite rose nearly 0.1% to 3,157.64.

Analysts expect economic growth in Asia to slow this year, although Chinas easing of COVID-19 restrictions is expected to be a plus. Suktae Oh, an analysts at Societe Generale, expects the Bank of Korea to raise rates by 25 percentage points to 3.50% at its policy meeting next week.

The data continue to indicate weak economic activity and peaking inflation. The concerns surrounding financial stability have persisted due to high corporate leverage and housing market weakness, which would be bearish for growth outlook, he said.

Payroll company ADP reported a bigger-than-expected increase in jobs at private companies in the U.S. last month. The U.S. government reported the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in more than three months last week.

On Wednesday, a government report showed a higher than expected number of job openings in November.

A robust jobs market exerts upward pressure on wages and reaffirms the central banks determination to keep interest rates high to slow economic growth and tame inflation. The strategy, though, risks going too far bringing on a recession.

The Feds benchmark lending rate stands at a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, up from close to zero following seven increases last year. It has forecast that the rate will reach a range of 5% to 5.25% by the end of 2023 and it isnt calling for a rate cut before 2024.

Wall Street is also looking ahead to the latest round of corporate earnings to get a better a sense of how companies are handling hot inflation and weakening consumer demand. Companies in the S&P 500 will pick up the pace of reporting in a few weeks, but some results are already trickling in.

Benchmark U.S. crude added 64 cents to $74.31 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international pricing standard, rose 62 cents to $79.31 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar climbed to 134.30 Japanese yen from 133.40 yen. The euro cost $1.0510, down from $1.0524.

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With companies continuing to add jobs across the economy, the unemployment rate fell from 3.6% to 3.5%, matching a 53-year low, the Labor Department said Friday.

All told, the December jobs report suggested that the labor market may be cooling in a way that could aid the Feds fight against high inflation. Last months gain was the smallest in two years, and it extended a hiring slowdown for most of 2022.

Whats more, average hourly pay growth eased in December to its slowest pace in 16 months. That slowdown could reduce pressure on employers to raise prices to offset their higher labor costs.

Average hourly wage growth was up 4.6% in December from 12 months earlier, compared with a 4.8% year-over-year increase in November and a recent peak of 5.6% in March.

If these trends continue, we can feel more and more confident that the strength of this labor market is sustainable, said Nick Bunker, head of economic research at the online job site Indeeds Hiring Lab. The outlook for next year is uncertain, but many signs point toward a soft landing, rather than a feared recession.

Traders on Wall Street appeared encouraged by the reports suggestion of milder pay growth and sent stock market futures pointing to solid gains.

Last months job growth capped a second straight year of robust hiring during which the nation regained all 22 million jobs it lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet the rapid hiring and the hefty pay raises that accompanied it likely contributed to a spike in prices that catapulted inflation to its highest level in 40 years.

The picture for 2023 is much cloudier. Many economists foresee a recession in the second half of the year, a consequence of the Feds succession of sharp rate hikes. The central banks officials have projected that those increases will cause the unemployment rate to reach 4.6% by years end.

Though the Feds higher rates have begun to cool inflation from its summertime peak, they have also made mortgages, auto loans and other consumer and business borrowing more expensive.

For now at least, the job market is showing surprising resilience in the face of higher interest rates across the economy. Employers added 4.5 million jobs in 2022, on top of 6.7 million in 2021. All that hiring was part of a powerful rebound from the pandemic recession of 2020.

In June, year-over-year inflation reached 9.1%, the highest level in 40 years, before slowing to 7.1% in November. Last year, in an aggressive drive to reduce inflation back toward its 2% goal, the Fed raised its benchmark rate seven times.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has emphasized in recent remarks that consistently strong job growth, which can force employers to raise pay to find and keep workers, can perpetuate inflation: Companies often raise prices to pass on their higher labor costs to their customers. And higher pay typically fuels more consumer spending, which can keep inflation elevated.

For that reason, Powell and other Fed officials have signaled their belief that to get inflation under control, unemployment will have to rise from its current low level.

Fed officials have projected that they will raise their benchmark short-term rate to about 5.1% this year, the highest level in more than 15 years. If hiring and inflation remain strong, the Feds rate might have to move even higher.

Technology companies have been laying off workers for months, with some, including Amazon, saying that they had hired too many people during the pandemic. Amazon has boosted its layoffs to 18,000 from an earlier announcement of 10,000. Cloud software provider Salesforce says it will cut 10% of its workers. And Facebooks parent company Meta says it will shed 11,000.

Smaller tech companies are also being hit. Stitch Fix, the fast fashion provider, said Thursday that its cutting 20% of its salaried workers. DoorDash has said it will eliminate 1,250 jobs.

Yet outside of high tech, smaller companies, in particular, are still hiring. According to the payroll processor ADP, companies with more than 500 employees cut jobs in December, while businesses below that threshold added many more workers. And an analysis by investment bank Jefferies showed that small companies were posting a historically high proportion of job openings.

The Fed is concerned about the fast pace of wage growth, which it sees as a reason why inflation is likely to remain high. Average hourly pay is rising at about a 5% pace, one of its highest levels in decades.

Economists think growth likely amounted to a solid annual rate of roughly 2.5% in the final three months of last year. But there are signs it is slowing, and most analysts expect weaker growth in the current first quarter of 2023.

Consumers barely increased their spending in November, held down by modest holiday shopping. And manufacturing activity contracted in December for a second straight month, with new orders and production both shrinking.

And the housing market, an important economic bellwether, has taken a severe hit from the Feds rate hikes, which have more than doubled mortgage rates in the past year. Home sales have plummeted for the past 10 months.

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A 2023 rebound for NFTsafter demand fell flat in the latter half of 2022may be closely tied to video games, a sector Web3 enthusiasts have often touted as having major potential to boost the technology despite loud objections from gamers.

After a series of lofty promises by big gaming companies on incorporating NFTs mostly fell by the wayside, one of those video game giants, Square Enix, the Japanese creator the Final Fantasy series, said it would be taking NFTs seriously this year.

In a Jan. 1 letter, President Yosuke Matsuda promised aggressive investment into blockchain tech and NFTs as the company chases other goals laid out in March 2022, which include investing in Animoca Brands and establishing subsidiaries in countries friendly to the technology, according to the Washington Post.

Animoca Brands, for its part, is seeking to raise $1 billion for a metaverse and Web3 fund that could be a boon for developing new projects. The Hong Kong-based companys chairman and cofounder, Yat Siu, said the fundraising should be complete by the end of the first quarter.

While some companies are planning new NFT projects, federal authorities are cracking down on scams and misconduct in the industry. This week, U.S. prosecutors filed charges against a French national who allegedly scammed customers out of nearly $3 million with a rug pull.

The suspect, Aurelien Michel, 24, apparently made false promises of exclusive rewards and benefits for his NFT project Mutant Ape Planet, which he said was intended to increase demand for digital collectibles and boost their value, according to a statement by U.S. Attorney Breon Peace.

In other news: 

Prada dropped its eighth installment of the limited edition Timecapsule Collection with a corresponding gifted NFT. The January Timecapsule shirt features a print designed in 1969 by Enzo Ragazzini and was available only for 24 hours. The poplin shirts front pocket features the Prada-enameled triangle logo and the word JANUARY on the back. Each shirt comes accompanied by its own gifted NFT, which serves as an invitation to join Pradas exclusive Crypted NFT community.

The company behind Vespa, one of the most famous motorized scooter brands, filed a trademark application outlining plans for virtual scooters, along with other digital three-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles and virtual clothing. The application, unearthed by trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis, also opens the door for Vespa parent company Piaggio to create its own crypto token.

Patrick T. FallonAFP via Getty Images

South Korean tech company LG Electronics said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week that it would enable a service called Blade Wallet on smart TVs for customers to buy and trade NFTs. Users of the companys smart TVs can also access the metaverse platform Sansar directly on their devices, which lets customers experience virtual worlds and digital events like concerts.

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