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GLOBAL MARKETS-Stimulus optimism boosts stocks, eases pressure on bonds

Published 19/08/2019, 12:27
© Reuters.  GLOBAL MARKETS-Stimulus optimism boosts stocks, eases pressure on bonds
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* Stocks gain as risk appetite returns

* China central bank rate reforms, Germany stimulus report

* Euro zone bond yields rise off record lows

* Gold down 1%

* Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

By Tom Wilson and Ritvik Carvalho

LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - World stock markets rose on

Monday on signs that major economies would look to prop up

stalling growth with fresh stimulus measures, easing pressure on

bonds and dampening demand for perceived safe-havens such as

gold.

Hopes of government action to stave off fears of recession -

triggered by an inversion in the U.S. bond yield curve - grew as

China's central bank unveiled interest rate reforms expected to

lower corporate borrowing costs.

The prospect of Germany's coalition government ditching its

balanced budget rule to take on new debt and launch stimulus

steps also helped the mood, after boosting Wall Street shares on

Friday. Berlin could make available up to 50 billion euros ($55

billion) of extra spending, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on

Sunday, adding that Germany has the fiscal strength to counter

any future economic crisis "with full force". MSCI's world equity index .MIWD00000PUS , which follows

shares in 47 countries, gained 0.4%, powered by a 1% gain for

the pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX . Bourses in London

.FTSE , Frankfurt .GDAX and Paris FCHI all registered gains

of more than 1%. .EU

The optimism was set to spread to Wall Street, too, where

futures gauges EScv1 NQcv1 were pointing to gains of between

0.9%-1%. .N

Earlier in the day, the People's Bank of China's interest

rate reforms - which it is said would help steer borrowing costs

lower for companies and support a slowing economy - helped

stocks in Shanghai .SSEC rise 2.1%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan

.MIAPJ0000PUS gained 1.1%.

Yet even as signs that major economies would act to support

growth emboldened investors, some market players cautioned that

the boost to markets from expectations of stimulus was fragile.

"You have just got a little bit of portfolio readjustment, a

resetting of expectations. The big question is whether it can

last," said Michael Hewson, chief market strategist at CMC

Markets. "Talking about fiscal stimulus in Germany is one thing,

doing it is something else."

As investors tiptoed back to riskier assets, gold XAU=

fell as much as 1% to $1,496.70 per ounce, with U.S. futures for

the precious metal GCcv1 also down.

The Japanese yen JPY=EBS , another safe haven that benefits

in times of stress, lost 0.2% to last trade at 106.57 to the

dollar.

The dollar index .DXY, , which measures the greenback

against six major currencies, was marginally higher in Europe at

98.179, close to a two-week high reached on Friday. FRX/

Investors are focused on the annual meeting of central

bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where U.S. Federal Reserve

Chairman Jerome Powell will speak at the symposium on Friday.

Analysts think Powell's remarks will be aimed at reassuring

nervous markets that the Fed will keep its easing stance.

"Powell's speech will set the stage for, at the minimum, a

25 basis points rate cut at the September meeting, stressing

that quantitative tightening is over and stressing that the

committee's bias is now back in accommodation mode," said Elsa

Lignos, global head of FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

The shift towards appetite for riskier assets played out in

bond markets, too.

Benchmark government debt in the euro zone rose off record

lows, with Germany's 10-year bond yield steady at -0.69%

DE10YT=RR . Its 30-year bond yields also gained. GVD/EUR

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield US10YT=RR stood at

1.6097%, having pulled away from a three-year trough marked last

week as fears of a global slowdown panicked markets.

In commodity markets, crude oil prices rose after an attack

on a Saudi oil facility by Yemeni separatists on Saturday, with

traders also looking for signs that Sino-U.S. trade tensions

could ease.

Brent crude LCOc1 was 0.3% higher, at $58.81 a barrel.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were

up 0.5%, at $55.12 a barrel.

For Reuters Live Markets blog on European and UK stock

markets, please click on: LIVE/

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