Asian Stocks Push Higher; Dollar Slips on Powell: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks climbed and U.S. futures ticked higher, after comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell cemented market bets for a rate cut this month. Treasuries rose with the yen and the dollar retreated.Shares rose across the region with South Korean and Hong Kong stocks outperforming. Gains in Japan and China were more muted. Earlier, the S&P 500 briefly topped 3,000 for the first time after Powell signaled a willingness to lower rates, citing a slowing global economy and trade issues. Minutes from the Fed’s June meeting confirmed an inclination among officials to ease policy soon. But stocks came off their highs, with financial shares leading the pullback. The yield on 10-year Treasuries slipped to 2.04%.“A rate cut in July is now all but certain,” said James McCann, senior global economist at Aberdeen Standard Investments. “The strength of last week’s jobs number did lead some to think that the Fed may pause for thought. It’s clear from this that they won’t.”Investors have taken Powell’s comments as confirmation that rates are headed lower at the Fed’s next meeting on July 30-31. Traders stepped up bets on a half a percentage point move, though the consensus still foresees a quarter-point cut.Meanwhile, the U.S. will investigate a French plan to impose taxes on technology companies, a move that has been a prelude to new U.S. tariffs under the Trump administration.Elsewhere, oil extended gains after surging more than 4% in New York overnight. Gold extended gains above $1,400 an ounce.Here are some key events coming up:Powell testifies to Senate Banking Committee on ThursdayECB minutes are due on Thursday.A key measure of U.S. inflation -- the core consumer price index, due Thursday -- is expected to have increased 0.2% in June from the prior month, while the broader CPI is forecast to remain unchanged.U.S. producer prices are due on Friday.Here are the main moves in markets:StocksS&P 500 futures rose 0.2% as of 12:25 p.m. in Tokyo. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% Wednesday.Topix Index rose 0.4%.Kospi Index rose 1.2%.Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4%.Hang Seng Index rose 1.1%S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3%.CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3% after an 0.3% decline Wednesday.The euro climbed 0.2% to $1.1275.The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.2529.The Japanese yen added 0.5% to 107,93 per dollar.The offshore yuan rose 0.1% to 6.8638.BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries fell two basis points to 2.04%.CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.6% to $60.77 a barrel after surging 4.5% Wednesday.Gold futures rose 0.4% to $1,424 an ounce.To contact the reporters on this story: Vildana Hajric in New York at vhajric1@bloomberg.net;Cormac Mullen in Tokyo at cmullen9@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net, Joanna OssingerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian...html?.tsrc=rss