Global Market Today: Asian stocks rise after US tech rally, oil dips
MSCI’s Asia Pacific Index edged up 0.1%. Earlier, shares climbed on Wall Street after a rally in Nvidia Corp. and Microsoft Corp. helped the S&P 500 Index close near an all-time high.
Asian stock markets showed a slight increase after a rally in US technology stocks drove the S&P 500 Index near a record high, as investors largely ignored concerns over bond yields hitting multi-decade highs. The MSCI’s Asia Pacific Index ticked up by 0.1%. Earlier, Wall Street stocks climbed following the surge in Nvidia Corp. and Microsoft Corp., with the S&P 500 Index closing at a near all-time high.
Brent oil prices held onto their losses from the previous session, trading around $100.30 a barrel. Australian and New Zealand government bonds fell early Tuesday, following a rise in longer-dated Treasury yields the day before. Meanwhile, the euro hit its weakest level since May due to growing political turmoil in Europe and fiscal concerns, with a gauge of dollar strength ending marginally higher.
US President Donald Trump is set to relax restrictions on a lower-taxed diesel variety, in an attempt to reduce costs for the vital fuel.
Investors have largely disregarded the prospect of higher interest rates, soaring energy costs, and renewed inflation concerns, which have driven up global bond yields. Instead, they have focused on solid earnings, steady consumer spending, and booming artificial intelligence-related investments to push stock benchmarks higher. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s Lisa Shalett noted that the relative market calm despite the bond market's "perfect storm" is understandable, given the rising economic growth and AI boom's rate insensitivity.
The US government bond market has also faced renewed pressure, with longer-dated yields reaching fresh multi-decade peaks of 5.34% and 5.7% for the 10- and 30-year Treasuries, respectively. This marks the highest levels since 2002 in the New York session. Shorter-dated Treasuries climbed 2 to 4 basis points. Investors remain cautious about calling a top in yields, as the economy expands, fueled by booming AI infrastructure spending, and high inflation sustains the possibility of additional Federal Reserve rate hikes.
In the stock market, market breadth has become a major concern for investors, with the percentage of US stocks trading above their 10-, 50-, and 200-day moving averages declining to levels last seen in March. Market technician Craig Johnson from Piper Sandler stated that interest rates and oil prices need to decrease, but currently, they are not, and market internals are deteriorating, which could pose a headwind for the market.
Written by urgent.news from The Economic Times - Top News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
