(Bloomberg) — U.S. equity futures and Asian stocks rose Thursday amid steadier sentiment following a surge in Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. and as investors digested pledges of economic support in China.
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Contracts for the Nasdaq 100 climbed over 1%, while Japan and Hong Kong led an Asia-Pacific share index higher, after Wall Street stocks eked out a gain.
Meta jumped 18% in extended trading after Facebook’s main social network added more users than projected. That brightened the mood toward megacap U.S. tech stocks and bolstered the biggest ETF that tracks the Nasdaq 100.
In China, officials have stepped up pledges of economic support amid Covid lockdowns. The latest move was a vow to stabilize employment. The twin virus outbreaks in Shanghai and Beijing continued to show signs of steadying.
Treasuries were little changed as investors calibrated risks from the prospect of aggressive Federal Reserve monetary-policy tightening to tackle high inflation. A dollar gauge was at the highest level since 2020.
The yen fell after the Bank of Japan held its main monetary settings and said it will conduct fixed-rate bond-purchase operations every business day.
Volatility remains the watchword in markets, stoked by China’s struggle to suppress Covid, Russia’s war in Ukraine and worries that Fed tightening may tip the world’s largest economy into a recession. There are lingering hopes that robust U.S. corporate earnings could improve the mood.
“The uncertainty factor is some of the highest we’ve seen in the course of the last number of years,” Kate Moore, BlackRock global allocation team head of thematic strategy, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “There are so many crosscurrents. And against that backdrop, it’s hard to see volatility come down dramatically.”
In commodities, oil hovered near $100 a barrel. The market is struggling to find direction amid Germany’s support for a gradual ban on Russian crude and bearish headwinds created by China’s lockdowns.
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Events to watch this week:
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Tech earnings include Amazon, Apple
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EIA oil inventory report, Wednesday
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U.S. 1Q GDP, weekly jobless claims, Thursday
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ECB publishes its economic bulletin, Thursday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
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S&P 500 futures rose 0.8% as of 12:15 p.m. in Tokyo. The S&P 500 rose 0.2%
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Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1.4%. The Nasdaq 100 was little changed
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Japan’s Topix index advanced 1%
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Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index gained 1%
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South Korea’s Kospi added 0.6%
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China’s Shanghai Composite index rose 0.8%
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Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index increased 1.6%
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Euro Stoxx 50 futures climbed 0.7%
Currencies
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The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
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The euro was at $1.0536
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The Japanese yen traded at 129.47 per dollar, down 0.8%
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The offshore yuan was at 6.6029 per dollar, down 0.2%
Bonds
Commodities
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West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.5% to $100.47 a barrel
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Gold was at $1,879.58 an ounce
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