Stocks shrug off trade war fears; Wall Street at records

Stocks shrug off trade war fears; Wall Street at records
AFP

New York (AFP) – Stock markets advanced Thursday, with major US indices jumping to new records as investors again shrugged off trade war worries.

Although the US and China announced fresh tit-for-tat trade tariffs earlier in the week, markets took heart in the fact that the actions were not as severe as they could have been. 

Equally important, analysts cited a “fear of missing out” among investors as buying momentum set in.

The latest rally “is seemingly rooted in the market’s resilience, which itself is rooted in the notion that trade concerns are overblown, that rising interest rates are a sign of an improving economy and that earnings growth is strong,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.

Major US indices rose about one percent, with the Dow hitting its first record since January at 26,656.98 and the S&P 500 also scoring a new all-time high of 2,930.75.

Key European markets were well in positive territory by the close, although London was held back by a strong pound.

“The dust has settled in the wake of tariffs being announced, and investors are happy to swoop in and snap up stocks,” said David Madden, a market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

– Party hardy? Really? –

While “global trade uneasiness” — as analysts at the Charles Schwab brokerage put it — is currently contained, the markets’ resilience may well be short-lived, some analysts predicted.

Joshua Mahony at IG detected a “hesitant tone” on trading floors. “The fears over US-China trade are likely to persist for some time yet,” he said.

Economist Joel Naroff said the latest rally made little sense, commenting in a client note that “you know things are crazy when investors say that the new tariffs are not as bad as was feared so let’s party hardy.” 

Both the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and International Monetary Fund issued fresh warnings on trade, with the latter cautioning that worsening trade tensions were likely to exact a “significant economic cost” to the world economy.

Oil prices fell modestly after US President Donald Trump called on OPEC to lower prices.

– Key figures around 2100 GMT – 

New York – Dow Jones: UP 1.0 percent at 26,656.98 (close)

New York – S&P 500: UP 0.8 percent at 2,930.75 (close)

New York – Nasdaq: UP 1.0 percent at 8,028.23 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 7,367.32 (close)

Frankfurt – DAX 30: UP 0.9 percent at 12,326.48 (close) 

Paris – CAC 40: UP 1.1 percent at 5,451.59 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.0 percent at 3,403.12 (close)

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: FLAT at 23,674.93 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng: UP 0.3 percent at 27,477.67 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 2,729.24 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1777 from $1.1673 at 2100 GMT

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3268 from $1.3144

Dollar/yen: UP at 112.50 yen from 112.28 yen

Oil – Brent Crude: DOWN 70 cents at $78.70 per barrel

Oil – West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 32 cents at $70.80 per barrel

burs-jmb/dg

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.