Europe Stocks Climb; Dollar Steady, Treasuries Dip: Markets Wrap: Bloomberg

European stocks rose on Tuesday, as a technology selloff faded and investors turned their attention to this week’s Federal Reserve rate decision and potential new trade tariffs from President Donald Trump targeting China. The dollar was steady and government bonds fell.

Almost every industry group advanced in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index following a mixed and muted session in Asia. Equities came off their lows of the day in Tokyo, and were up in Seoul Tuesday afternoon, while China’s markets edged higher as the nation wrapped up an annual meeting of its legislature. Metals were once again under pressure, but Bloomberg’s broader index of raw materials increased.

Investors appear to be largely treading water ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting Wednesday, where focus will be on whether policy makers signal an acceleration in interest-rate hikes. Meanwhile, reports late Monday in Washington said the White House plans to impose tariffs worth as much as $60 billion on Chinese products as one outcome of an investigation by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

Here are some key events on the schedule this week:

• Headline U.K. inflation may have slowed to 2.8% in February with the core rate easing to 2.5%.
• The Fed decision and Powell’s news conference come on Wednesday.
• The Trump administration could impose tariffs on China as soon as this week.
• The Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates and its asset-purchase program unchanged on Thursday. Attention will be on language and the odds for a May hike.
• Company earnings scheduled for this week include Tencent, FedEx, Porsche, Hermes, PetroChina and Nike.

And these are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.3 percent as of 8:08 a.m. London time.
• Futures on the S&P 500 Index climbed less than 0.05 percent.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dipped 0.2 percent to the lowest in more than a week.
• The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index jumped 0.4 percent, the biggest increase in more than a week.
• The MSCI Emerging Market Index gained 0.3 percent.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed less than 0.05 percent.
• The euro increased 0.1 percent to $1.2342.
• The British pound jumped 0.2 percent to $1.4051, the strongest in more than a month.
• The Japanese yen dipped 0.3 percent to 106.45 per dollar.
• South Africa’s rand rose 0.2 percent to 11.9962 per dollar.
• The MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index rose 0.1 percent, the largest advance in a week.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose one basis point to 2.87 percent.
• Germany’s 10-year yield rose two basis points to 0.58 percent.
• Britain’s 10-year yield climbed two basis points to 1.445 percent on the biggest surge in two weeks.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.9 percent to $62.61 a barrel, the highest in three weeks.
• Gold decreased 0.2 percent to $1,314.49 an ounce.
• The Bloomberg Commodity Index gained 0.3 percent to 86.76, the largest climb in more than a week.

By Adam Haigh and Samuel Potter

March 20, 2018, 7:16 PM GMT+11

Source: Bloomberg