Second quarter starts positive
On Monday global stocks rose with a gauge of European shares up for a fifth day, while the pound retreated at the start of a busy week that includes a meeting between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump and culminates in the monthly U.S. jobs report.
The Stocks Europe 600 Index gained as much as 0.4 percent before paring the advance, while the euro looked set to end its longest run of losses versus the dollar since February. Energy companies led a gain in emerging-market shares as oil held above $50 a barrel.
As the second quarter gets going, political developments threaten to cloud the improving global economic outlook. The first major data release showed confidence among Japan’s large manufacturers improved for a second consecutive quarter in the first three months of the year. The pound fell for the first time in three days against the dollar as U.K. manufacturing growth unexpectedly cooled.
Euro-area unemployment fell to the lowest in almost eight years and a measure of manufacturing accelerated as factories in the region’s biggest economies benefited from improving global growth. The average jobless rate declined to 9.5 percent in February from 9.6 percent in January. It’s been decreasing steadily from a peak of more than 12 percent in 2013 and is now at the lowest since May 2009. Separately, IHS Markit said its Purchasing Managers’ Indexes for Germany, France and Italy all rose in March, helping to pushing its euro-region gauge to the highest since 2011.
Oil is holding near $50 a barrel as optimism spurred by OPEC’s output cuts confronts pessimism over rising U.S. supply.
While OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said Sunday that he is “cautiously optimistic that the market is already rebalancing” and stockpile levels have started to ease, data on Friday showed the number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. rose to the highest since September 2015.
This article was compiled by BOV Asset Management Limited, a member of the BOV Group. BOV Asset Management,TG Complex, Suite 2, Level 3, Brewery Str., Mriehel BKR 3000. Email: infoassetmanagement@bov.com Internet address: www.bovassetmanagement.com. BOV Asset Management is licensed by the MFSA.