US stocks rise with China’s Xi expected to calm tensions

Bloomberg

US stocks climbed with Asian equities as investors looked to China’s President Xi Jinping to calm a trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies. Treasuries fell with gold.
The S&P 500 Index rose after last week’s 1.4 percent tumble, and strength in semiconductors, software and technology hardware pushed the Nasdaq 100 Index and Nasdaq Composite Index up more than 1 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also soared more than 1 percent, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index advanced.
The yuan pared its gains as China’s leaders were said to evaluate the impact of gradually depreciating the
currency. Commodities rebounded after their worst weekly drop since mid-March, with oil and industrial metals rallying.
Traders are anticipating a statesman-like performance from President Xi in a speech on Tuesday at the Boao Forum for Asia. While senior officials are examining options in case matters get worse, he was expected to deliver a strong warning about the consequences of an escalation to a full trade war.
Currency moves, including a recovery in emerging markets and weaker gold prices, bore out the returning sense of calm.
“What the market will now want to hopefully see is some form of negotiation starting between the Chinese and the Americans,” James Barty, Bank of America Corp.’s head of global cross-asset and European equity strategy, said on Bloomberg TV. “It’s not in anybody’s interest to go down to a full-blown trade war.”
European stocks pared their gains, after earlier hitting a three-week high, while a measure of global shares advanced. Safe-haven assets showed little reaction to a missile attack on a Syrian airbase that Russia blamed on Israel.
Meanwhile, in Russia the currency plunged and the Moex Russia Index of stocks tumbled the most in four years after the US sanctioned some prominent Kremlin-connected billionaires and their companies. Bitcoin dropped back below $7,000.
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda speaks at the start of his second term. China’s Xi gives a keynote address at Boao Forum on Tuesday.
Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg will testify at two Congressional hearings on Tuesday and on Wednesday. US CPI data and FOMC minutes due on Wednesday.
The S&P 500 was up 0.7 percent to 2,622.74 in New York. The Stoxx
Europe 600 Index dipped 0.2 percent. The MSCI All-Country World Index gained 0.5 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.3 percent, the largest rise in a month. Germany’s DAX Index declined 0.1 percent.
The Bloomberg dollar spot index fell 0.1 percent The euro gained 0.3 percent to $1.2318. The Japanese yen dipped 0.1 percent to 107.02 per dollar. The British pound rose 0.4 percent to $1.4141. The Russian ruble declined 4 percent to 60.4193 per dollar, the biggest decrease in two years. The yield on 10-year Treasuries gained three basis points to 2.8027 percent. Britain’s 10-year yield increased one basis point to 1.406 percent.