(April 19): Stocks are set to kick off the week at record highs, with investors focusing on the economic recovery despite mounting concerns about new Covid-19 variants. Currencies were steady.
-Advertisement-
Futures pointed higher in Japan and Australia after U.S. stocks ended the week at all-time peaks, with the S&P 500 Index capping its fourth straight weekly advance. The Swiss franc edged up against the dollar and the euro amid growing tensions between the U.S. and Russia over jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny.
Bitcoin tumbled the most since February, from record highs hit last week as crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc. went public.
After two weeks of relentless losses, China Huarong Asset Management Co. bonds rallied after China’s financial regulator said the bad-debt manager had ample liquidity, the first official comments since the company jolted Asian credit markets by missing last month’s reporting deadline.
Robust data from China and the U.S. have buoyed investor sentiment, pushing the MSCI All-Country World Index to a another record and giving fresh impetus to the reflation trade. This week traders will look for further confirmation of the private sector’s recovery from the pandemic as the earnings season gathers pace.
The European Central Bank rate decision later in the week will also draw attention. The ECB is set to keep its policy unchanged, and likely to sound cautiously optimistic on the economy and borrowing costs, though it is likely too soon for further details about the plans for the asset purchase program beyond the second quarter.
These are some of the main moves in financial markets:
Stocks
-Advertisement-
The S&P 500 Index climbed 0.4%.
Nikkei 225 futures rose 0.2%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index futures rose 0.5%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index futures added 0.2% earlier
Currencies
The yen was at 108.78 per dollar.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%.
The euro traded at US$1.1974.
The offshore yuan was at 6.5267 per dollar.
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries ended last week at 1.58%.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude lost 0.5% to US$63.13 a barrel.
Gold strengthened 0.7% to US$1,776.51 an ounce.-The Edge Market