BOJ keeps interest rates flat, but flags rate hikes on rising inflation, GDP
(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* Futures up: Dow 0.18%, S&P 500 0.21%, Nasdaq 0.29%
By Shreyashi Sanyal
Dec 23 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures touched new
record highs on Monday, as President Donald Trump said over the
weekend that the United States and China would "very shortly"
sign their so-called Phase One trade pact.
The Phase One deal, announced earlier this month, helped
fuel a rally on Wall Street, with its three main indexes hitting
record closing highs on Friday. Last week, the S&P 500 .SPX
also registered its biggest weekly percentage gain since early
September. China said it will lower tariffs on products ranging from
frozen pork and avocado to some types of semiconductors next
year. As the year draws to a close the benchmark index has risen
28.5% in 2019, putting it on track for its best annual
performance since 2013.
On Friday, markets also cheered data which showed a rise in
consumer spending, adding to a slew of encouraging data that has
helped put a damper on recession fears, which plagued markets
earlier this year.
Economic data points expected through the week were sparse,
with the U.S. personal consumption expenditure deflator for
November, due on Friday, being the only major report.
At 7:12 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 52 points, or
0.18%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 6.75 points, or 0.21% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 25 points, or 0.29%.
Among stocks, Tesla Inc TSLA.O rose 1.6% in premarket
trading. The electric vehicle maker and a group of China banks
have agreed to a new 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), five-year
loan facility for the automaker's Shanghai car plant.
Apache Corp APA.N jumped 5.2% after the oil and gas
producer along with French rival Total TOTF.PA said the
companies have formed a joint venture to develop a project off
Suriname.