Wall Street and European shares rose on Friday as the White House and congressional Republicans worked on the final touches on a U.S. debt ceiling deal.Treasury yields rose as investors rethought how long interest rates were likely to keep rising.The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 nations, gained 1% by 10:38 a.m. EDT (1438 GMT), but was still on track for a weekly loss.The index extended gains after U.S. data showed stronger-than-expected consumer spending in April.U.S. President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy appeared to be closing in on an agreement ahead of a June 1 deadline that would raise the government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling for two years while capping spending on most items.
The dollar eased against a basket of currencies, but stayed on track for a third straight weekly gain as markets bet on higher-for-longer interest rates. Gold edged up from two-month lows, helped by the dip in the greenback, as oil prices rose. Euro zone government bond yields headed for a weekly rise as robust economic data and hawkish remarks by central bank officials triggered some upward repricing in market bets on euro zone interest rates.
“This week has been a bit of a wake-up call to rate expectations. There is a realization that inflation is going to be stickier for a lot longer,” said Mike Hewson, chief markets strategist at CMC Markets.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 354.75 points, or 1.08%, to 33,119.74, the S&P 500 gained 47.46 points, or 1.12%, at 4,197.73 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 200.84 points, or 1.57%, at 12,897.35.Strong U.S. consumer spending data boosted the economy‘s prospects for the second quarter and inflation picked up, the Commerce Department said on Friday.
Europe’s STOXX 600 index of 600 companies rose 0.8%, while Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index added 1.20%.Chipmaker Marvell Technology Inc surged nearly 28% after it forecast its annual artificial-intelligence (AI) revenue would double.Shares of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, Nvidia Corp , added 1.81% after vaulting to a record high on Thursday following a bumper forecast.
The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes rose to 3.8274% and the two-year yield, which rises with traders’ expectations of higher Fed fund rates, climbed to 4.5723%.
CHINA RECOVERY QUESTIONED
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.4% with revenue and production upgrades for Nvidia boosting Japanese firms with exposure.The cost of insuring exposure to U.S. government debt dropped on Friday.China’s yuan slid along with Chinese stocks as the shine comes off expectations of a booming post-pandemic recovery, sending steel prices in China to a three-year low.”The U.S. debt issues are not the only ‘ceiling’ that we are dealing with, as a slowdown in Chinese economic data suggests that a ceiling for growth may be forming as well,” said RBC technical strategist George Davis.U.S. crude climbed 1.04% to $72.62 a barrel. Brent crude rose to $76.88 per barrel.Spot gold prices rose 0.15% to $1,943.19 an ounce.
