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Photographer: Noriko Hayashi / Bloomberg
Photographer: Noriko Hayashi / Bloomberg
Asian stocks edged higher on Thursday as traders valued US President Joe Biden infrastructure plan. Treasury bills suffered losses.
Shares rose in Japan and South Korea, while Australia posted more modest gains. US contracts remained in the green after the S&P 500 index closed, and stronger tech stocks led the Nasdaq 100 to outperform. The dollar stabilized after having had its best quarter in a year.
Ten-year Treasury bill yields were flat at 1.74% after sealing the worst quarterly performance since 1980 for the Bloomberg Barclays index tracking US government bonds. Oil cut earlier losses after preliminary talks for a meeting of OPEC and its allies offered no signal from exit plans.
Investors look to the prospects for further government stimulus and their possible impact on growth and inflation. The US president on Wednesday presented a $ 2.25 trillion infrastructure plan, which will be funded by higher corporate taxes, which is expected to face resistance in Congress. The push for more investment in the recovery comes against a backdrop of strong central bank support to keep borrowing costs low.
The President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday that policymakers would not hesitate to use all their powers if investors tried to drive bond yields higher.
Meanwhile, data for March showed U.S. private employers created the most jobs in six months, adding to evidence that vaccine collection and business reopenings are boosting hiring.
“There is still room for recovery in stocks which will benefit from the economic recovery and reopening of trade,” Ania Aldrich, chief investment officer at Cambiar Investors LLC, told Bloomberg TV. “There is still a lot of growth to come and that isn’t necessarily reflected in earnings just yet.”
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas chairman Robert Kaplan has said President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan will boost economic growth and adds that the Fed aims to anchor inflation expectations to 2%.
Some key events to watch this week:
- OPEC + is meeting on Thursday to discuss production levels for May.
- China Caixin PMI expected Thursday.
- US Employment Report for March Friday.
- Good Friday begins Easter weekend in countries like the US, UK, France, Germany, Australia, and Canada.
Here are some of the main developments in financial markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures were flat at 9:07 am in Tokyo. The S&P 500 Index rose 0.4%. The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.5%.
- The Topix index rose 0.9%.
- The Australian S & P / ASX 200 index rose 0.1%.
- South Korea’s Kospi index gained 0.6%.
Currencies
- The yen was trading at 110.77 per dollar.
- The offshore yuan was at 6.5649 to the dollar.
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is stable.
- The euro was trading at $ 1.1724.
Obligations
- The yield on 10-year Treasury bills held steady at 1.74%.
- The yield on Australian 10-year bonds rose eight basis points to 1.87%.
Basic products
- West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.6% to $ 59.53 a barrel.
- Gold was at $ 1,706.88 an ounce.
– With the help of Romaine Bostick
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