World stocks rose on Friday after JP Morgan’s results, while signs of stabilisation in China’s economy also helped riskier assets amid talk that the growth outlook worldwide is better than thought.
The JP Morgan’s results kicked off the US corporate earnings season in style, while Chinese data showed exports rebounded in March.
MSCI’s gauge of equity market performance in 47 countries gained 0.37 per cent, while the EURO STOXX 50 index rose 0.31 per cent, reports Reuters.
JPMorgan shares rose 4.2 per cent and led a broad rally in bank stocks, with the KBW banking index gaining 1.76 per cent.
Regional lenders in Europe, including StanChart, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse also rallied on JPM’s results, taking the European bank index up 1.9 per cent to a five-month high.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 223.46 points, or 0.85 per cent, to 26,366.51. The S&P 500 gained 15.24 points, or 0.53 per cent, to 2,903.56 and the Nasdaq Composite added 29.90 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 7,977.26.
The euro gained despite the German growth concerns. Dealers were gearing up for demand from Japan as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial closed in on its multi-billion-euro acquisition of DZ Bank’s aviation-finance business.
The dollar index fell 0.24 per cent, with the euro up 0.42 per cent to $1.1297. The Japanese yen weakened 0.32 per cent versus the greenback at 112.05 per dollar.
Euro zone and U.S. government debt yields rose after the rebound in Chinese exports.
Yields on Germany’s 10-year government bond crossed into positive territory, to 0.058 per cent.
Benchmark 10-year US Treasury notes fell 15/32 in price to push up their yield to 2.5579 per cent.
Oil provided the big milestones. Brent was at $71.40 a barrel, having broken back through the $70 threshold this week, and US WTI was heading for a sixth straight week of gains for the first time since early 2016.
Gold steadied en route to its first weekly gain in three weeks as the dollar weakened, although the metal’s advances were capped by stronger equities.
Gold crept higher after falling more than 1.0 per cent on Thursday to break below $1,300 following solid US data. Spot gold traded at $1,292.41 per ounce.
