The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Bloomberg
Stocks and US equity futures rose, while the dollar weakened to a one-month low as progress in developing a coronavirus vaccine crossed a key milestone.
European stocks staged a broad advance, with travel shares leading gains. Atlantia SpA surged 20% as Italy’s government moved to resolve a long-running dispute linked to a 2018 bridge collapse. Treasuries and gold were steady. Oil gained after a report pointed to a drop in US crude stockpiles.
The vaccine developments brought optimism to financial markets that have been struggled to make headway recently in the face of new outbreaks across the US and Asia. US stocks had a late session surge after news that Moderna Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine produced antibodies to the coronavirus in all patients tested in an initial safety trial.
“The vaccine news is clearly a positive development,†said Mark Nash, head of global fixed income at Merian Global Investors. “But it’s still long way off. The fear of the W-shaped recovery is probably very high at the moment. Good news is that markets still have a chance to ride it out because the Fed has bought time, so financial conditions can stay easy until growth kicks in.â€
In Asia, shares in Hong Kong underperformed, while those in Shanghai fell amid signs policy makers are uneasy over the pace of recent gains.
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank meets to set monetary policy on Thursday, with President Christine Lagarde holding a virtual press conference afterwards.
Futures on the S&P 500 Index increased 0.7% as of 9:12 am London time and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.8%.
While the MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 1.1%, the MSCI Emerging Market Index climbed 0.6%. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4% and the euro gained 0.4% to $1.144.
While the British pound gained 0.4% to $1.2606, the Japanese yen strengthened 0.2% to 106.98 per dollar.
The offshore yuan strengthened 0.2% to 6.9939 per dollar.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped less than one basis point to 0.62% and the yield on two-year Treasuries dipped less than one basis point to 0.16%.
While Germany’s 10-year yield sank one basis point to -0.46%, Britain’s 10-year yield rose one basis point to 0.156%. Japan’s 10-year yield increased less than one basis point to 0.035%.
As West Texas Intermediate crude gained 1% to $40.83 a barrel, Brent crude increased 0.7% to $43.42 a barrel. Gold strengthened 0.2% to $1,812.37 an ounce.