New York
Stocks gained from the US to Asia as the panic surrounding a potential trade war showed signs of easing. Treasury yields were steady, while the dollar edged lower and oil rallied.
The S&P 500 Index and Stoxx Europe 600 both broke three-day losing streaks. Canada’s benchmark equity gauge climbed to a record and emerging-market stocks, which have been hit hard by the trade concern, broke a five-day losing streak. Oil jumped ahead of an OPEC gathering, joining a rally in commodities. The pound erased a drop to edge higher before a key Brexit vote.
Twenty-First Century Fox jumped 6.1 per cent after Walt Disney sweetened its bid to $71.3 billion, topping Comcast’s offer. Disney and Comcast were both marginally higher.
A sense of calm is returning to markets after President Donald Trump stepped up trade threats against China earlier in the week, proposing moves that economists reckon could cut as much as half a percentage point from the Asian nation’s growth. Traders may well be siding with Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, who characterised the escalation in rhetoric as simply a negotiating strategy.
“A lot of people believe the track that the (US) President is taking is a negotiation tactic. And the people who still think the trade war will develop, believe it would be China that comes to the table with concessions first,” said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist and senior portfolio manager at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New York. “This gives people reason to feel a little bit more comfortable with buying.”
Elsewhere, the Bloomberg Commodity Index rose the most in three weeks. The onshore yuan climbed after the People’s Bank of China set its daily reference rate at a stronger-than-expected level.
