While you were sleeping: Wall St climbs with tech stocks

Tuesday 10th April 2018

Wall Street rallied, while US Treasuries slid, amid signs that the US and China are moving away from the brink of a trade war.

China is evaluating the potential impact of a gradual yuan depreciation, people familiar with the matter said, Bloomberg reported. Senior Chinese officials are studying a two-pronged analysis of the yuan—one part looks at the effect of using the currency as a tool in trade negotiations with the US, while a second part examines what would happen if China devalues the yuan to offset the impact of any trade deal that curbs exports, according to Bloomberg.

Investors will scrutinise comments from Chinese President Xi Jinping who’s set to speak at the Boao Forum For Asia on Tuesday.

“What the market will now want to hopefully see is some form of negotiation starting between the Chinese and the Americans,” James Barty, Bank of America's head of global cross-asset and European equity strategy, told Bloomberg. “It’s not in anybody’s interest to go down to a full-blown trade war.”

In 1.10pm trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1.7 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 2.2 percent. In 12.56pm trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 1.6 percent.

US Treasuries fell, pushing yields on the 10-year note three basis points higher to 2.80 percent.

All 30 stocks in the Dow rose, led by gains in shares of Merck and those of Intel, recently up 7.1 percent and 4.3 percent respectively. Shares of Microsoft and Cisco Systems also climbed, up 3 percent each recently, amid a rebound of tech stocks.

“Despite recent concerns, trends for [tech] remain intact, and the sector remains a standout on both top- and bottom-line growth,” equity strategists at Credit Suisse Group led by Jonathan Golub wrote in a note to clients Monday, Bloomberg reported.

Shares of Merck jumped on the latest trial results for its Keytruda cancer treatment.

“While it is still unclear whether Keytruda and [Bristol-Myers’] Opdivo are truly different in some way, it is crystal clear that Merck has done a much better job designing trials and developing their drug. This will solidify their lead,” Brad Loncar, chief executive officer of Loncar Investments, which runs the Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy ETF, told Reuters.

Investors are gearing up for the latest US quarterly earnings season with Blackrock, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo among companies set to report this week.

“Today the markets are looking positive as probable healthy earnings helped by the recent tax benefits and a strong economy acts as a breath of fresh air,” Andre Bakhos, managing director at New Vines Capital in Bernardsville, told Reuters.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index ended the session with a 0.1 percent advance from the previous close. The UK’s FTSE 100 Index added 0.2 percent, as did Germany’s DAX Index, while France’s CAC40 Index increased 0.1 percent.

(BusinessDesk)

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