Stocks Rise With U.S. Futures; Dollar Turns Higher: Markets Wrap

 

 

These are some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.8% as of 10:31 a.m. London time.
• Futures on the S&P 500 Index rose 0.2%.
• Nasdaq 100 Index futures climbed 0.3%.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.4%.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%.
• The British pound declined 0.3% to $1.3045.
• The euro declined 0.1% to $1.1121.
• The Japanese yen was little changed at 110.13 per dollar.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries climbed one basis point to 1.81%.
• The yield on 30-year Treasuries increased two basis points to 2.28%.
• Britain’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 0.614%.
• Germany’s 10-year yield fell less than one basis point to -0.22%.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.5% to $58.84 a barrel.
• Gold strengthened 0.2% to $1,556.17 an ounce.
• Copper increased 0.8% to $2.87 a pound.
• Platinum gained 2.2% to $1,023.20 an ounce.

Stocks powered higher globally alongside U.S. futures on Friday as a solid start to the American earnings season, easing trade tensions and mostly promising economic data all combined to buoy sentiment. The dollar turned higher.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index jumped, with International Consolidated Airlines Group SA joining the gainers after removing a shareholdings limit. Yet there there were declines for some retailers including Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA, which cut its profit guidance. Asia’s main markets notched modest gains, surging briefly after data showed Chinese industrial output beat estimates. S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and Dow Jones Industrials futures all rose, signaling the benchmarks may test records yet again.

The longest-dated Treasuries dipped after the U.S. announced plans for a new 20-year bond. The euro held a slight decline after inflation data met forecasts. The dollar drifted up against its major peers and the pound erased gains and gilts turned higher when U.K. retail sales data disappointed.

Investors are heading into the weekend buoyed by the completion of an initial Sino-American trade deal and solid results from the biggest banks on Wall Street. The earnings season will continue to ramp up next week with the likes of Procter & Gamble Co. and Intel Corp. reporting, but for now most economic data is also supporting sentiment: China GDP was in line with estimates a day after strong U.S. retail sales numbers.

China’s industrial production “is quite telling, because more broadly it speaks to the bottoming out in the global industrial-production cycle, which we’ve been looking for and the market’s been looking for for the last six to nine months,” John Woods, chief investment officer for the Asia Pacific at Credit Suisse, told Bloomberg TV in Hong Kong. This suggests “the global economy is on a recovering path.”

Elsewhere, the yield on Taiwanese government debt fell to a record intraday low as insurers roared back into the market. Oil edged higher alongside gold. Emerging-market equities also climbed, on course for a seventh week of gains.