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U.S. stocks rallied toward an all-time high, while Treasuries slumped on speculation efforts will succeed at minimizing the economic impact from the coronavirus. Crude oil rallied after tumbling into a bear market.
The S&P 500 Index’s three-day gain topped 3%. Energy producers surged as crude rallied the most in almost a month on the prospect of OPEC output cuts. Risk sentiment got a boost overnight after a string of reports on possible vaccines, but the World Health Organization later said there are no proven therapeutics. Treasuries retreated, sending 10-year yields above 1.64%, even as more quarantines were announced in an effort to control the virus.
Havens including the yen and Swiss franc slipped. The dollar rose, with data showing U.S. firms added more jobs than economists’ forecasts in January. Copper jumped 1.7%.
U.S. stocks continued their torrid rebound from the virus-fomented sell-off as optimism mounted that the spread will be contained and more central banks signaled a willingness to act if the virus undermines demand, inflation and financial markets. Better-than-forecast corporate earnings also continued boost equities.
“The market is shrugging it off. You can see that the effort is there and the market is saying that this isn’t going to break out into a pandemic,” Michael Pytosh, chief investment officer of equities at Voya Investment Management, said by phone. “It’s not going to cause some cataclysmic medical problem in the world.”
Here are some key events coming up:
- U.S. President Donald Trump looks set for acquittal on Wednesday in the Senate’s impeachment trial.
- The Reserve Bank of India’s interest rate decision is due Thursday.
- German factory orders for December are due Thursday, followed by industrial production on Friday.
- The U.S. employment report for January is set for Friday release.
Stocks
- The S&P 500 Index climbed 1.1% as of 3:13 p.m. New York time.
- The Nasdaq 100 Index added 0.5%.
- The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 1.2%.
- The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.6%.
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.2%.
- The British pound fell 0.4% to $1.2974.
- The euro declined 0.4% to $1.1.
- The Japanese yen weakened 0.2% to 109.75 per dollar.
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose four basis points to 1.64%.
- Britain’s 10-year yield climbed four basis points to 0.6%.
- Germany’s 10-year yield increased three basis points to -0.37%.
- West Texas Intermediate crude increased 3.4% to $51.45 a barrel.
- Copper rose 1.4% to $2.578 a pound.
- Gold added 0.2% to $1,556.47 an ounce.