Good news on earnings yields a boon for stocks

U.S. equity benchmarks finished the day mostly higher, led by technology and health-care companies, while China’s efforts to support its economy spurred interest in higherrisk assets across Asia. The dollar slipped and 10-year Treasuries gained.

The S&P 500 Index rose for the second straight day as positive earnings news overcame traders’ anxieties about simmering trade disputes. Google parent Alphabet Inc. anchored the market’s advance early in the session after it beat analysts’ estimates. Exxon Mobil and Chevron also gained as West Texas crude pushed higher. Indexes retreated from their highs earlier in the session, however, pulling the Nasdaq back from an intraday record.

“You saw a pretty good pop in the market to start, obviously Google earnings helped things get going, but at the same time, you’re 2 percent away from all-time highs,” Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader who founded “The Sevens Report” market newsletter, said by phone. “As you pop 20 points in the S&P, you look around and you say, ‘OK. Well is this justified?’ And the answer is no.”

Carmakers and banks were among the biggest winners in the Stocks Europe 600 Index, as PSA Group said subsidiary Opel turned a profit and lender UBS Group AG posted better-than-forecast results. Sterling climbed after Prime Minister Theresa May took control of Brexit talks. The lira plunged as Turkey’s central bank unexpectedly held rates steady.

Shares in Asia rallied on news that China will increase infrastructure spending and take other measures to bolster growth, with the Shanghai Composite Index posting the biggest three-day rally in two years. With Donald Trump again tweeting that tariffs are good for America, China’s moves to shore up growth in the face of a rumbling trade war are reassuring investors.

More earnings will roll in as the week grinds on, while the path of monetary policy will be back in focus as the European Central Bank meets to decide interest rates.