NEW YORK, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Global equities and U.S.
government bonds edged higher Friday as investors weighed
better-than-expected corporate earnings and increased M&A
activity in Europe against political concerns ranging from
November's U.S. elections to Brexit.
Growing fears over a messy no-deal Brexit dragged sterling
to new 5-1/2-month lows after the European Union told Britain it
should urgently scrap a plan to break their divorce treaty.
"Most of the risks faced by markets for the rest of the year
are political, so around the U.S. election, the UK government's
exit from the EU and U.S.-China tensions," said Francois Savary,
chief investment officer at Swiss wealth manager Prime Partners.
"As people take a step back to assess these risks, we're in
this consolidation, holding pattern, which was needed as markets
aren't cheap at the moment."
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS
gained 0.45% following modest gains in Europe and Asia. Japan's
Nikkei .N225 rose after Tokyo dropped its coronavirus alert by
one notch from the highest level as COVID-19 cases trend down.
European indexes were bolstered after telecoms and cable
group Altice Europe ATCA.AS said its founder had offered to
take the company private, sending its shares up more than 24%
In morning trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial
Average .DJI rose 153.71 points, or 0.56%, to 27,688.29, the
S&P 500 .SPX gained 23.02 points, or 0.69%, to 3,362.21 and
the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 103.22 points, or 0.95%, to
11,022.82
Shares of cloud services company Oracle Corp ORCL.N and
exercise bike maker Peloton Interactive Co PTON.O both jumped
after better-than-expected earnings.
The NYSE Fang+ index of big 10 tech companies .NYFANG has
lost 5.4% so far this week - its biggest weekly loss since the
market turmoil in March if sustained by the end of Friday.
Still, the index has more than doubled from its March
trough, and investors have gathered that high valuations are
justifiable in light of near-zero interest rates in much of the
developed world and massive liquidity the world's central banks
have created.
Many investors have said the sell-off was a healthy
correction. Yet, with the world's stocks still trading near the most
expensive levels relative to the profit outlook since the 2000
tech bubble, some analysts called for caution.
"Global shares had rallied on expectations of economic
recovery from lockdowns. But as the autumn begins (in the
northern hemisphere), people wonder if coronavirus infections
could worsen," said Kozo Koide, chief economist at Asset
Management One.
In currency markets, the British pound was set for its worst
week against the euro and the dollar since mid-March. On Friday
it was down 0.1% against the euro EURGBP= at 0.9285 pence and
0.2% to the dollar to $1.2825. FRX/
The European Union is ramping up preparations for a
tumultuous end to the four-year Brexit saga after Britain
explicitly said this week it plans to break international law by
breaching parts of the Withdrawal Agreement treaty signed in
January.
The dollar index =USD fell 0.106%, with the euro EUR= up
0.3% to $1.1848.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last rose 2/32 in price
to yield 0.6772%, from 0.684% late on Thursday
Oil prices were under pressure from a surprise rise in U.S.
stockpiles and weak demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. crude CLc1 recently fell 0.4% to $37.15 per barrel
and Brent LCOc1 was at $39.64, down 1.05% on the day.
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Global assets http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
MSCI All Country World Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
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