Global equities staged a rebound, with tech in focus as Nvidia Corp. signaled further gains before its earnings report this week.
(Bloomberg) — Global equities staged a rebound, with tech in focus as Nvidia Corp. signaled further gains before its earnings report this week.
Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index rose 0.5%, while Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index was on track for its biggest gain in nearly a month. Nvidia Corp. added 1.6% in premarket trading, after a more than 8% jump on Monday buoyed tech stocks.
Activision Blizzard Inc. rose 1.1% as Microsoft Corp.’s $69 billion acquisition of the firm got a fresh chance at winning approval from UK regulators after the tech giant submitted a substantially different deal. SoftBank Group Corp.’s semiconductor unit Arm filed for what is set to be this year’s largest US initial public offering.
In the UK, the FTSE 100 Index snapped its longest losing streak since July 2019. A late surge in Chinese shares boosted sentiment in Asia, with key mainland equity indexes rebounding from oversold levels.
Stocks are bouncing after three weeks of losses, with investors focusing on Big Tech and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech due Friday at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium. Bonds pared some of Monday’s slump, when the yield on 10-year inflation-protected Treasuries pushed beyond 2% for the first time since 2009.
Recent data underscoring the resilience of the US economy has supported the case for a soft landing, said Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. “This creates an environment in which tech stocks are better able to prosper, and that wider optimism is spreading throughout global markets.”
Investors are seeking clues on the trajectory of US monetary policy after Fed officials last month lifted rates to a range of 5.25% to 5.5%, the highest level in 22 years. Over 80% of those polled in Bloomberg’s latest Markets Live Pulse survey said Powell’s Jackson Hole speech will reinforce the message of a hawkish hold.
“Each incremental hike that they have from here just raises the risk that we have a much sharper slowdown in 2024 and perhaps even a recession,” Lori Heinel, chief investment officer at State Street Global Advisors, said on Bloomberg Television. “So as long as inflation remains contained, we think that they will take a pause here.”
The speeches from Fed chiefs at the Jackson Hole conference have typically buoyed stocks since the turn of the millennium, data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence show. But last year, equities slumped 3.2% in the week following Powell’s remarks after he warned of keeping policy restrictive to battle inflation.
Elsewhere, the offshore yuan steadied after the People’s Bank of China implemented the strongest fixing on record on the currency as the central bank continues its battle against yuan bears. The one month offshore yuan interbank interest rate jumped to highest since 2018.
Key events this week:
- US existing home sales, Tuesday
- Chicago Fed’s Austan Goolsbee speaks, Tuesday
- Eurozone S&P Global Services & Manufacturing PMI, consumer confidence, Wednesday
- UK S&P Global / CIPS UK Manufacturing PMI, Wednesday
- US new home sales, S&P Global Manufacturing PMI, Wednesday
- US initial jobless claims, durable goods, Thursday
- Kansas City Fed’s annual economic policy symposium in Jackson Hole begins, Thursday
- Japan Tokyo CPI, Friday
- US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
- Fed Chair Jerome Powell, ECB President Christine Lagarde to address Jackson Hole conference, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% as of 6:47 a.m. New York time
- Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.5%
- Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%
- The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 1.2%
- The MSCI World index rose 0.4%
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
- The euro was little changed at $1.0887
- The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.2769
- The Japanese yen rose 0.4% to 145.67 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin fell 0.3% to $26,034.38
- Ether fell 0.6% to $1,662.61
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 4.31%
- Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 2.66%
- Britain’s 10-year yield declined seven basis points to 4.66%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2% to $80.54 a barrel
- Gold futures rose 0.4% to $1,931.60 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Tassia Sipahutar.
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