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World shares were mixed in cautious trading on Wednesday ahead of an update on US employment that is expected to highlight a sluggish jobs market.

Prices of gold, silver and oil advanced. Bitcoin was lower.

Germany's DAX lost 0.5 per cent to 24,872.61, and the CAC 40 in Paris also shed 0.5 per cent, to 8,281.72. Britain's FTSE 100 edged 0.2 per cent higher.

The future for the S&P 500 was up less than 0.1 per cent, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 per cent.

Markets in Japan were closed for a holiday.

Chinese markets crept higher, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong up 0.3 per cent at 27,266.38. The Shanghai Composite index added 0.1 per cent to 4,131.98.

In South Korea, the Kospi extended its gains, rising 1 per cent to 5,354.49.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.7 per cent to 9,014.80, while Taiwan's Taiex jumped 1.6 per cent.

India's Sensex edged 0.1 per cent lower.

On Tuesday, stocks drifted on Wall Street following a mixed set of profit reports from big US companies. Hopes rose that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later this year to boost the economy following a discouraging report on US shoppers' appetite for spending.

“Fresh data points to softening US consumer momentum since last December as wage growth cools and household credit stress builds,” Mizuho Bank said in a commentary. It noted that demand weakened in eight of 13 categories, including clothing and furniture.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3 per cent to 6,941.81 after briefly rising above its all-time high set a couple of weeks ago. The Dow added 0.1 per cent, to its own record, closing at 50,188.14.

The Nasdaq composite fell 0.6 per cent to 23,102.47.

The report showing that US retailers made less money at the end of last year than economists expected could signal slowing spending by US households, the main engine of the economy.

Apart from Wednesday's jobs figures, a report on Friday will show how bad inflation is for US consumers.

Altogether, the data should help the Federal Reserve decide what to do with interest rates. The Fed has put its cuts to interest rates on hold, and too-hot inflation could keep it on pause for a long time. But a weakening of the job market could push it to resume cuts more quickly.

“Expectations are weak. The US economy is expected to have added around 66,000 nonfarm jobs in January, with wage growth slowing to 3.6 per cent year-on-year. The unemployment rate is seen steady near 4.4 per cent,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya of Swissquote said in a report.

“If we dig deeper, however, unemployment among workers aged 16–24 stood above 10 per cent in December. The struggle is real,” she said.

Coca-Cola fell 1.5 per cent after its revenue for the latest quarter fell short of analysts' expectations. It also gave a forecast for an important underlying measure of growth this year that was less than some analysts expected.

S&P Global dropped 9.7 per cent after giving a forecast for profit in the upcoming year that fell short of analysts' expectations. The company famous for its stock indexes has been struggling recently with worries that competitors powered by artificial-intelligence technology may steal customers for its data services. Its stock came into the day with a loss of 15 per cent for the year so far.

Outside of earnings reports, Warner Bros. Discovery climbed 2.2 per cent after Paramount said it upped its offer to buy the entertainment company to USD 30 per share by 25 cents per share for each quarter that its buyout has not closed past the end of this year. Paramount also said it would pay USD 2.8 billion to help Warner Bros. Discovery get out of its buyout deal with Netflix.

Paramount Skydance's stock added 1.5 per cent, while Netflix rose 0.9 per cent.

In other dealings early Wednesday, US benchmark crude oil gained 87 cents to USD 64.83 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 85 cents to USD 69.65 per barrel.

The dollar slipped to 153.27 Japanese yen from 154.38 yen, while the euro rose to USD 1.1919 from USD 1.1895.

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The price of gold rose 1.2 per cent while that for silver was up 5.1 per cent.

Bitcoin lost 3.3per cent to just below USD 67,000.