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* S&P 500, Germany's DAX index soar to fresh peaks
* Biden's spending plans spur enthusiasm
* U.S. bond yields turn lower on jobless claims data
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - Global equity markets surged
on Thursday, with U.S. and European benchmark stock indexes
setting record highs, on the back of the strongest manufacturing
data around the world in decades and a drop in bond yields that
lifted big tech shares.
U.S. President Joe Biden's sweeping $2.3 trillion plan to
rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure added to
investor enthusiasm, as did accelerating vaccine rollouts.
The dollar fell, easing off nearly three-year highs in the
first quarter, while oil rose before a meeting of the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies that
was expected to keep supply tight. Asian markets ended with a late burst pushing Chinese shares
up 1.2%, while Europe's STOXX 600 .STOXX shrugged off France's
new lockdown order to close in on its pre-COVID record highs.
.EU
Germany's DAX index .GDAXI scaled a new high after IHS
Markit's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed
euro zone factories seeing their fastest pace on growth in the
survey's near 24-year history. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 .SPX also touched a new high
as it charged past the 4,000 mark after the Institute for Supply
Management said its index of national factory activity soared to
its highest level in more than 37 years in March. There are multiple tailwinds - stimulus, expectations of
record earnings, vaccines - driving stocks higher, said King
Lip, chief investment strategist at Baker Avenue Asset
Management in San Francisco.
"With stimulus, with the Fed committed to being dovish, with
the economy reopening due to more of the U.S. getting vaccines,
overall you're going see corporate earnings do pretty well."
MSCI's benchmark for global equity markets .MIWD00000PUS
rose 0.93% to 679.55, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300
index .FTEU3 closed up 0.59%.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
0.46%, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.91% and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 1.48%.
The dollar eased a bit after a 3.5% first-quarter gain. The
dollar index =USD fell 0.295%, with the euro EUR= up 0.35%
to $1.1769. The Japanese yen JPY= strengthened 0.13% versus
the greenback at 110.55 per dollar.
Higher-than-expected weekly jobless claims pushed U.S.
Treasury yields lower, flattening the yield curve, but did
little to dampen investor expectations of Friday's monthly
employment report.
The Labor Department said the number of Americans filing new
claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week.
The jobless claims number wasn't as great as everyone had hoped,
but halted the recent rise in bond yields, Lip said.
"A little bit of a slowdown is going to be an improvement on
rates," he said.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury US10YT=RR note fell 7.1 basis
points to 1.6752%.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose $1.01 to $63.75 a barrel.
U.S. crude futures CLc1 gained $1.15 to $60.31 a barrel.
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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
U.S. yields and inflation https://tmsnrt.rs/3rElOC9
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