(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 official 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. Facebook’s main social network added more users than projected, brightening the mood toward megacap U.S. tech firms and bolstering the biggest ETF that tracks the Nasdaq 100.
Meanwhile, the yen slid toward the closely watched level of 130 per dollar after the Bank of Japan doubled down on dovish policy, saying it would carry out fixed-rate bond buying every business day to defend its 10-year yield target.
The currency’s drop spurred some foreign-exchange market volatility: the offshore yuan retreated and a dollar gauge extended an advance.
Treasuries were little changed as investors calibrated risks from the prospect of aggressive Federal Reserve monetary tightening to tackle high inflation.
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 China, officials have stepped up pledges of economic assistance amid Covid lockdowns. The latest move was a vow to stabilize employment, following President Xi Jinping’s pledge for more infrastructure spending. The virus outbreak in Shanghai continued to show signs of moderating.
Elsewhere, oil dropped toward $100 a barrel, gold retreated and Bitcoin struggled to break above $40,000.
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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 0.7% as of 12:44 p.m. in Tokyo. The S&P 500 rose 0.2%
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Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1.3%. The Nasdaq 100 was little changed
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Japan’s Topix index advanced 1.2%
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Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index gained 0.9%
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South Korea’s Kospi added 0.5%
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China’s Shanghai Composite index rose 0.3%
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Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index increased 1.1%
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Euro Stoxx 50 futures climbed 0.5%
Currencies
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The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%
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The euro was at $1.0523
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The Japanese yen traded at 129.54 per dollar, down 0.9%
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The offshore yuan was at 6.6259 per dollar, down 0.6%
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 $1,881 an ounce, down 0.3%
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