Carlos Barria/Reuters
- Asian stocks rose after China’s central bank promised further support, Europe and US futures gained.
- Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell countered a poor jobs report by forecasting further expansion.
Stocks are bouncing back from a rough patch last week, helped by dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and a Chinese pledge to prop up its slowing economy.
Asian and European markets rallied, while US futures signaled stocks will edge higher.
Dow futures are being dragged lower by Boeing jitters after its second crash in six months led to the grounding of some of its jets. Chinese aviation authorities grounded all airlines’ use of Boeing’s 737 Max 8 model. Boeing is down 9% in premarket trading.
Powell attempted to calm investors’ nerves in a "60 Minutes" interview on Sunday.
"I would say there’s no reason why this economy cannot continue to expand," he said, reiterating the bank’s "patient" stance on raising rates. "We don’t feel any hurry to change our interest-rate policy."
China’s central bank on Sunday said it plans to spur loans and lowering borrowing costs. That helped sentiment after a bout of bad data over the weekend, which included a sharper drop in new bank loans than expected in February and tepid money supply growth.
Shocking US jobs data on Friday hit sentiment already rocked by the biggest weekly decline in Wall Street’s main indexes since mid-December, according to Bloomberg. The US economy added only 20,000 jobs in February, the smallest amount since September 2017.
Here’s the roundup as of 10:11 a.m. in London (6:11 a.m. ET):
- The Shanghai Composite Index was up about 2%, while the SZSE Component and DJ Shanghai were up 3.6% and 2%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1%.
- Europe’s Euro Stoxx 50 and Germany’s Dax Index added about 0.2%, while the FTSE 100 was up 0.7%, reflecting the weak pound.
- US futures signal slight gains in S&P and Nasdaq, while the Dow is set to be dragged 0.8% lower.
- Brent Crude and Crude Oil WTI prices are up about 1% after Saudi Arabian oil minister Khalid al-Falih said OPEC-led supply cuts were unlikely to end before June, and a report showed US drilling activity fell for a third straight week, according to CNBC.
- The British pound is also touching a three-week low ahead of this week’s Brexit vote, where Prime Minister’s Theresa May’s deal is set to be approved.
- Turkey fell into its first recession in a decade, after its GDP shrunk 2.4% last quarter, after dropping 1.6% in the preceding three months. The economic downturn reflects a "currency crash, policy missteps and an unprecedented diplomatic rift with the US," according to Bloomberg.
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See Also:
- Boeing crash woes set to wipe $21 billion off market cap, dragging Dow lower, after China and Ethiopia to ground some 737s
- The probability of a US recession just spiked the most in 30 years — UBS says ‘even we are surprised by this’
- An investment chief at $1 trillion Northern Trust lays out a strategy that’s survived every major market crash, including the Great Depression
SEE ALSO: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says Trump can’t fire him despite months of attacks
Source: Business Insider – tmohamed@businessinsider.com (Theron Mohamed)