US stocks surge; UK tax retreat welcomed
NEW YORK, Oct 17, (AP): US stocks surged in afternoon trading on Wall Street Monday and marked the latest aboutface for a market that has been unsteadily lurching between gains and losses.
The S&P 500 rose 2.7% as of 12:06 p.m. Eastern. Nearly every stock in the benchmark index gained ground. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 545 points, or 1.8%, to 30,180 and the Nasdaq rose 3.5%.
Technology and communications companies has some of the biggest gains. Google’s parent company rose 3.8%.
Bond yields eased back from their multiyear highs and took some pressure off of stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates, fell to to 3.96% from 4.02% late Friday. The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which tends to track expectations for future Federal Reserve action, fell to 4.44% from 4.50% late Friday.
U.K. government bonds rallied following news that the country’s new Treasury chief was abandoning nearly all of a series of unfunded tax cuts announced last month that had upset markets.
Markets in Europe were broadly higher and most markets in Asia gained ground. Oil prices rose.
The broader market is coming off of an extremely volatile week that closed with most major indexes in the red. Investors remain worried about hot Inflation and the potential for a recession to hit the U.S. and global economy. The big concern is the Fed’s aggressive policy to raise interest rates to cool inflation, which could go too far and slow the economy so much that it slips into a recession.
Wall Street turns its focus this week to the latest round of corporate financial results. The earnings reports and financial updates could help give investors a clearer picture of how companies and consumers have been dealing with inflation. Investors will also be listening closely to any statements from corporate leaders focusing on inflation’s potential path ahead and the forecasted impact on business.
Bank of America jumped 5.6% after reporting earnings that beat forecasts.
Several major airlines, which could see some turbulence in their finances if inflation hits consumers’ travel spending, will report earnings this week. United Airlines releases its results on Tuesday, followed by American Airlines on Thursday.
Europe
On Monday, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.9%, as did France’s CAC 40. Germany’s DAX was up 1.2% at midday.
Asia
In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 1.2% to finish at 26,775.79. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 1.4% to 6,664.40. South Korea’s Kospi rebounded to gain 0.3% to 2,219.71. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.5% to 16,662.19, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4% to 3,084.94. In Mumbai, the Sensex gained 0.8%.
Oil
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude dipped 7 cents to $85.54 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. U.S. crude oil prices fell 3.9% on Friday. Brent crude, the international standard, added 15 cents to $91.78 a barrel.
Currencies
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 148.87 Japanese yen from 148.63 yen. That’s a nearly 32-year low for the yen against the dollar.