Stocks climbed as confidence returned to markets, with investors shaking off concern about the impacts of higher Treasury yields.
In a broad-based rally, the S&P 500 notched its biggest advance in almost nine months, the Nasdaq Composite jumped 3% while the Russell 2000 of small caps outperformed. GameStop Corp. added to last week’s surge of over 150%, with retail investors promoting the stock on social-media platforms such as Reddit and StockTwits. After the close of regular trading, Zoom Video Communications Inc. soared as its revenue forecast topped Wall Street’s estimates.
Longer-dated Treasuries resumed their selloff even as intermediate maturities found support, with traders priming themselves for how Federal Reserve officials slated to speak this week might respond to the recent tumult. Investors piled back into risk assets as stocks rebounded following a rout that was triggered by concern that massive stimulus as well as progress in battling the coronavirus have left some areas of the economy at risk of possibly overheating. The S&P 500 extended a rally from its March 2020 lows to about 75%.
"Equity investors are still looking at the rise in rates mostly as ‘a good thing’ and not yet as a threat, notwithstanding some shaking of the tree in high multiple stocks and other parts of the market last week,” wrote Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group. “The benefits of the vaccines versus the challenge of higher rates will be the theme this year.”
Bitcoin rallied after a volatile weekend session, riding a broad resurgence in risk assets and a bullish report from Citigroup Inc. The bank’s strategists laid out a case for the digital asset to play a bigger role in the global financial system, saying the cryptocurrency could become “the currency of choice for international trade” in the years ahead.
There are some key events to watch this week:
- US Federal Reserve Beige Book is due Wednesday.
- OPEC+ meeting on output Thursday.
- U.S. factory orders, initial jobless claims and durable goods orders are due Thursday.
- The February US employment report on Friday will provide an update on the speed and direction of the nation’s labour market recovery.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- The S&P 500 Index surged 2.4% as of 4pm New York time.
- The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 1.8%.
- The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 1.8%.
- The MSCI Emerging Market Index rose 1.7%.
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.1%.
- The euro declined 0.2% to US$1.2046 ($1.60).
- The Japanese yen depreciated 0.2% to 106.78 per dollar.
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose two basis points to 1.43%.
- Germany’s 10-year yield sank seven basis points to -0.33%.
- Britain’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 0.759%.
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude declined 1.8% to US$60.40 a barrel.
- Gold fell 0.6% to US$1,723.42 an ounce.
- Silver dropped 0.6% to US$26.51 per ounce.
