Global equity markets edged higher on Tuesday amid a bright outlook for corporate earnings, while the U.S. dollar rose as concerns eased over a continuing China-U.S. trade spat.
Oil prices edged up after posting their biggest one-day fall in almost a year on Monday, though higher Russian output and Saudi Arabia possibly cutting its selling prices acted as a drag on crude trading.
Financial markets remained cautious after China said Sunday it would raise tariffs on 128 U.S. products, deepening a dispute between the world’s two biggest economies and stoking jitters about the potential impact of the trade standoff on global growth.
U.S. Treasury yields and benchmark German bunds rose as stock markets firmed and as investors looked ahead to Friday’s closely watched employment report for March. U.S. yields had dropped two-month lows on Monday, boosted by safe-haven buying as Wall Street reeled from a recent rout in technology shares.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.04 per cent but the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading regional shares lost 0.30 per cent.
After being shut for Easter Monday and feeling that impact a day later, Europe’s main bourses in London, Paris and Frankfurt were down.
Tech stocks, following a recent rout that began in the U.S., remained a pressure point in Europe after renewed criticism of Amazon by U.S. President Donald Trump. The drop also came on reports that Apple intended to make more of its own parts, news that slammed European chipmakers such as AMS and STMicroelectronics.
The S&P 500 Information Technology index has tumbled in recent weeks, ending Monday down about 9.8 per cent from a March 12 closing record. Declines in large-cap tech shares was triggered by Trump’s recent allegations, made via Twitter, about Amazon’s business practices.
Still, the fundamental picture of solid global growth and strong corporate earnings hasn’t changed that much, but a White House that was market friendly in 2017 has turned less so in 2018, adding a new twist to markets, said Larry Hatheway, chief economist at GAM Investment Management in Zurich.
“If equities are going to find a solid foundation to recover some of the losses they suffered over the last two months, it’s probably going to be on the basis that companies can still demonstrate earnings and fundamental reasons that earnings story is intact,” Hatheway said, speaking in New York.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 168.87 points, or 0.71 per cent, to 23,813.06. The S&P 500 gained 11.08 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 2,592.96 and the Nasdaq Composite added 15.67 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 6,885.79.
Traders were looking to a near $25-billion float of music app Spotify to lift the tech gloom, after a clobbering on Monday had pushed the benchmark S&P 500 index , the Dow and Nasdaq below pivotal technical levels.
Canada’s main stock index fell on Tuesday as gold prices dragged the materials sector lower.
Gold producers fell 2.1 per cent, weighing on the larger materials sector as prices of yellow metal edged lower after previous session’s surge.
Franco-Nevada Corp. declined 2.1 per cent, while Barrick Gold Corp. dropped 1.8 per cent in morning trading.
Heavyweight financial stocks fell 0.2 per cent with Toronto-Dominion Bank down 0.7 per cent and Bank of Montreal falling 0.5 per cent.
At 11:24 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index fell 43.55 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 15,169.90.
The U.S. dollar index, tracking it against a group of major currencies, rose 0.13 percent, with the euro down 0.23 per cent to $1.2272. The Japanese yen weakened 0.64 percent versus the greenback at 106.57 per dollar.
Asia’s shares had stumbled overnight, though its moves too had been small compared to Wall Street where the S&P 500 closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time since Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union.
Japan’s Nikkei ended down 0.45 per cent, after initially falling as much as 1.6 per cent. China’s Shanghai Composite index eased 0.9 per cent and the blue-chip CSI300 was off 0.7 percent.
The slight recovery in risk appetite meant U.S. Treasuries, German Bunds and UK Gilts all saw a bit of selling too in Europe. Yields on 10-year notes were all off two- to three-month lows.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes last fell 15/32 in price to yield 2.7844 percent.
U.S. crude rose 0.79 per cent to $63.51 per barrel and Brent was at $68.12, up 0.71 per cent on the day.