U.S. Futures Gain as China Moves to Contain Virus: Markets Wrap

 

 

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• Futures on the S&P 500 Index increased 0.4% as of 8:36 a.m. New York time.
• Nasdaq 100 Index futures advanced 0.6%.
• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed.
• Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.6%.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index jumped 0.7%.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%.
• The British pound jumped 0.6% to $1.3123.
• The euro gained 0.1% to $1.1088.
• The Japanese yen weakened 0.1% to 109.97 per dollar.
• The Swiss franc weakened 0.1% to $0.9701.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries climbed less than one basis point to 1.78%.
• Germany’s 10-year yield dipped one basis point to -0.26%.
• Britain’s 10-year yield gained two basis points to 0.648%.
• Italy’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 1.394%.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude dipped 1% to $57.79 a barrel.
• Gold dipped 0.2% to $1,555.68 an ounce.
• Natural gas increased 0.6% to $1.91 per mmbtu.

Here are some events to watch out for this week:

• Companies including Texas Instruments Inc., Intel Corp. and Procter & Gamble Co. will post results.
• Policy decisions are due from central banks in Canada, Indonesia and the euro region.
• The World Economic Forum, the annual gathering of global leaders in politics, business and culture, continues in Davos, Switzerland.

U.S. equity-index futures gained on Wednesday as China took steps to contain the spread of a deadly virus that had rattled international markets. The dollar edged lower with Treasuries.

Contracts on the three main American equity indexes all rose, with Netflix Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. up in the premarket while Johnson & Johnson slipped as traders digested their earnings. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fluctuated, with Italian banks slumping as a fresh bout of political turmoil unnerved investors. European carmakers lagged after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin dangled the prospect of retaliatory tariffs on auto imports if exporting nations enact digital-tax plans.

Chinese shares earlier reversed losses after Beijing said it will start a nationwide screening effort to tackle the outbreak. The yuan steadied after tumbling on Tuesday by the most in five weeks in offshore trading as investors considered the virus’s contagion and potential disruption to spending during China’s week-long Lunar New Year.

While the death toll from the respiratory virus has to nine, a sense that China is coming to grips with containing it gave traders the chance for bargain-hunting following yesterday’s declines. Investors stayed on the alert, however, with millions set to travel during the holiday and news that the deadly pathogen had spread to Hong Kong. Helping sentiment were growth data that topped estimates in South Korea, continuing a recent run of macro reports that support the case for a recovery in global economic expansion.

“I would expect a lot of people — candidly, like we are — that are looking for opportunities to buy rather than sell” amid the dip in stocks caused by virus-contagion worries, Lamar Villere, partner and portfolio manager at Villere & Co., said on Bloomberg TV. “I don’t think this is going to be the beginning of the end.”