Stocks Climb to Records With Virus Impact Unkown: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks continued their relentless push higher even as the economic impact from the deadly coronavirus remains murky. Treasuries were mixed and gold advanced.

The S&P 500’s four-day rally topped 3.5% as major equity benchmarks hit all-time highs on the strength of solid corporate results and signs that central banks stand ready to act if growth falters. The torrid ascent has some firms warning about a sense of euphoria taking over among investors, especially as the coronavirus epidemic continues to spread and China's economy remains virtually locked down. Treasuries erased losses and gold climbed in a sign of some demand for haven assets.

In corporate news, Boeing (NYSE:BA) spiked almost 4% after saying it fixed a software bug in its grounded plane. Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR). rallied after topping projections for fourth-quarter revenue. Strong results helped powered the Stoxx Europe 600 Index to a record. Japaneses equities added more than 2% as Toyota Motor Corp. reported a higher-than-expected profit.

“A lot of the moves this week have been explained by a relief rally that the coronavirus seems to be slowing somewhat, clearly there was a lot of uncertainty embedded in market behavior coming in,” said Mark Heppenstall, chief investment officer at Penn Mutual Asset Management. “It does still have a number of question marks still out there.”

Here are some key events coming up:

• German industrial production is due on Friday.
• The U.S. employment report for January is set for Friday release.
• Australia’s central bank chief speaks and takes questions at a parliamentary committee.

Stocks

• The S&P 500 Index rose 0.3% as of 2:27 p.m. New York time.
• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.4%.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 1.8%.
• The MSCI Emerging Market Index gained 1.3%.

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%.
• The euro fell 0.2% to $1.0979.
• The onshore yuan was little changed at 6.9708 per dollar.
• The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 109.97 per dollar.

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell one basis point to 1.65%.
• Germany’s 10-year yield fell one basis point to -0.37%.
• Japan’s 10-year yield rose two basis points to -0.024%.

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.3% to $50.92 a barrel.
• Gold futures rose 0.4% to $1,568.80 an ounce.