US stocks rise as dollar falls with treasuries

Bloomberg

US stocks halted a three-day slide, while
the dollar extended its decline as Fed officials weighed the pace of borrowing-cost hikes. The euro rose to the strongest in more than
a month after a French presidential debate eased concern about a populist win in
the election.
Technology shares led gains in the S&P 500 Index, while European equities got a lift from lenders. The euro strengthened after centrist Emmanuel Macron was widely judged to have come out on top in the televised contest. That helped send the greenback lower for a fifth day. Developing-nation equities extended a winning streak to eight days. Sterling surged after data showed UK inflation rose faster than expected.
Independent Macron emerged as the most convincing of the five contenders in the presidential debate, according to a poll, allaying investor fears anti-EU candidate Marine Le Pen could triumph in the vote and lead the country out of the currency union.
“When you consider how many people have been worried about this election and how cheap the euro is, if that risk were to go away then there’s the potential for money to
flow into Europe,” said Andrew Sheets, chief cross-asset strategist at Morgan Stanley in London. “That would be another form of volatility. There’s always a risk of large moves when valuations are extreme — and the euro is quite cheap.”
The euro was one of the biggest gainers against the dollar, which is on its longest
losing streak since November after the Federal Reserve’s dovish message on the speed
of monetary tightening last week. The Fed could raise interest rates two, three or four times this year, said Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, though his Minneapolis colleague Neel Kashkari argued that there was no need to rush.
There’s a steady lineup of Fed speakers this week, headlined by Janet Yellen on March 23, while central bank policy decisions are expected in New Zealand, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. March PMI for France is due Friday, along with final fourth-quarter GDP figures.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped by 0.4 percent at 9:33 a.m. in New York, following a 0.1 percent drop Tuesday. The euro was up by 0.6 percent at $1.0808, rising versus all of its G-10 peers except sterling.