Tech stocks rise on earnings; Treasuries fall, dollar rises

Bloomberg

Technology shares gained on strong earnings from a leading chipmaker, while Treasuries fell with gold.
The Nasdaq indexes rose after Micron Technologies Inc’s profit topped estimates.
Chipmakers Intel Corp and Cisco Systems Inc also rallied. The S&P 500 pared early gains as heathcare shares and consumer staples weighed on benchmarks.
Futures spiked higher overnight after a CNBC report that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a trade deal was 90 percent done. The report was corrected to indicate that the comments referred to May.
Ten-year Treasury yields pushed above 2 percent, while oil rose to a four-week high on supply concerns, and gold retreated. The dollar gained for a second day.
While the administration’s trade comments revived risk appetite, a major breakthrough may not come during this weekend’s meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.
Trump once again threatened substantial additional tariffs if a deal can’t be reached. Meanwhile, many traders hope the Federal Reserve will mitigate any headwinds to global growth with deep cuts, though Fed member James Bullard made clear that’s not a given.
“My biggest concern here is that people think higher tariffs, or the threat of higher tariffs, can be offset by the promise of lower rates,” David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, told Bloomberg TV. “That’s not going to work.”
Elsewhere, Bitcoin surged above $12,900 for the first time in more than a year, and briefly came within striking distance of the $13,000 mark. New Zealand’s dollar strengthened after its central bank left rates unchanged. The Group of 20 summit is in Osaka, Japan, on Friday and on Saturday.
The S&P 500 Index climbed 0.2 percent in New York. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.1 percent. The MSCI Emerging Market Index increased 0.2 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index sank 0.4 percent to the lowest in a week.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed. The euro was little changed at $1.1371. The British pound was little changed at $1.2689. The Japanese yen dipped 0.4 percent to 107.67 per dollar, the weakest in a week.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 2.02 percent. Germany’s 10-year yield gained one basis point to -0.32 percent. Britain’s 10-year yield increased one basis point to 0.806 percent.
West Texas Intermediate crude gained 2.6 percent to $59.34 a barrel, the highest in more than four weeks. Gold fell 0.7 percent to $1,409.90 an ounce, the first retreat in more than a week.