Stocks Rise on Earnings Boost; Treasuries Rally: Markets Wrap

Global stocks nudged higher as the latest bout of earnings results buoyed sentiment in the technology sector and traders kept an eye on the historic meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea. The dollar steadied and Treasuries extended gains. 

Most equity markets advanced and Nasdaq futures climbed, with media and technology firms among the biggest gainers in Europe after a slew of technology companies showed solid growth and provided bullish forecasts. The yield on 10-year Treasury yields edged further below 3 percent, spurring advances in most sovereign bond prices. In South Korea, the won climbed against the dollar with the summit in focus. Commodities retreated, led lower by oil.

Investors are taking heart from optimistic pronouncements from the likes of Amazon.com Inc., Intel Corp. and Baidu Inc., shaking off what had been a nervous few months in the technology sector. The upbeat mood was bolstered further as geopolitical tensions eased, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un crossing the border to the south to hold talks over his nuclear weapons program.

Elsewhere, the yen was little changed after the Bank of Japan maintained its stimulus, as expected. 

Terminal users can read more in our markets live blog.

Events remaining this week:

• U.S. GDP data are due Friday.

And these are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.1 percent as of 8:01 a.m. London time, the highest in 12 weeks.
• The MSCI All-Country World Index gained 0.1 percent.
• Futures on the S&P 500 Index decreased 0.1 percent.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.1 percent to the highest in 15 weeks.
• The euro dipped 0.1 percent to $1.2088, the weakest in 15 weeks.
• The British pound fell less than 0.05 percent to $1.3917, the weakest in more than six weeks.
• The Japanese yen gained less than 0.05 percent to 109.29 per dollar.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell one basis point to 2.97 percent, the lowest in a week.
• Germany’s 10-year yield fell two basis points to 0.58 percent, the lowest in more than a week.
• Britain’s 10-year yield decreased two basis points to 1.504 percent, the lowest in a week.

Commodities

• Brent crude decreased 0.3 percent to $74.48 a barrel.
• Gold declined less than 0.05 percent to $1,316.61 an ounce, the weakest in more than five weeks.
• LME aluminum dipped 0.5 percent to $2,263.00 per metric ton.
• LME copper decreased 0.4 percent to $6,939.50 per metric ton, the lowest in more than a week.