Beijing –
Global stock markets rose Friday after US inflation eased in March and China reported unexpectedly strong exports.
London and Frankfurt opened higher. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong have expanded. Crude oil prices rose.
Wall Street futures fell, losing part of Thursday’s gains, as US inflation at the wholesale level softened more than expected.
ActivTrade’s Anderson Alves said in a report that Asian markets were “taking cues from the solid rally on Wall Street.”
In early trading, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2% to 7,862.09. Frankfurt’s DAX rose 0.2% to 7,843.38 and Paris’ CAC 40 rose 0.2% to 7,497.61.
On Wall Street, futures on the benchmark S&P 500 index were off 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%.
The S&P 500 rose 1.3% on Thursday after government data showed prices paid to US producers rose at the slowest pace in more than two years in March.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1%. Nasdaq rose 2% to 12,166.27.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6% to close at 3,338.15 after China’s March exports recovered from declines in January and February, rising 14.8% y/y.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.2% to 28,493.47. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.5% to 20,438.81.
Seoul’s Kospi rose 0.4% to 2,571.49. Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 was up 0.5% at 7,361.60.
New Zealand fell while Singapore and Jakarta gained. Indian markets are closed for public holidays.
Traders say any signs that stubbornly high inflation is abating could allow the Federal Reserve and other central banks to delay or scale back rate hike plans, cooling business and consumer activity. I expect sex.
Prices paid to US producers rose 2.7% year-on-year, the smallest increase in more than two years, according to government data on Thursday.
Separate data on Wednesday showed consumer inflation slowing to 5% from 6% in February.
A separate report on Thursday said slightly more American workers than expected filed for unemployment benefits last week, but the job market remains resilient.
Notes from the Fed’s March 21-22 meeting show that members agreed that the next rate hike would be a quarter of a percentage point instead of half a percentage point.
Some traders are betting that the Fed may stabilize benchmark lending rates at its May meeting.
Others expect the central bank to start cutting interest rates as early as mid-year to support the economy. Fed officials say they expect at least one more rate hike this year, after which they expect the benchmark rate to remain elevated until at least early 2024.
Meanwhile, large US companies are starting to tell investors how much they made in the first three months of the year.
Expectations are low. Forecasts predict the steepest drop in earnings since the pandemic hit the economy in 2020.
Big banks are set to report a flurry of industry fears after two high-profile bankruptcies in the US and one in Switzerland. This has fueled concerns that banks are cracking under the strain of rate hikes. Regulators appear to have allayed that fear by promising institutions loans and other actions if needed.
Fed staff economists said such weakness could trigger a mild recession later this year, according to a memo from the Fed’s meeting.
In the energy market, US benchmark crude rose 3 cents to US$82.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange electronically. The contract fell by $1.10 to $82.16 on Thursday. Brent crude, the benchmark for international oil trading, rose 1 cent to $86.10 a barrel in London. Last traded, it dropped $1.24 to $86.09.
The dollar fell to 132.45 yen from 132.77 yen on Thursday. The euro rose from he $1.1046 to he $1.1060.
