Global stocks and U.S. futures advanced on Friday after President Donald Trump and his former Vice President Joe Biden met in their second and final debate before the Nov.3 election.
Shares rose in Paris, London and Tokyo on Friday, but fell in Shanghai. The investor debate will refocus on hopes for another round of aid to the US economy.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said progress was being made in talks to provide more stimulus, but it is unclear whether Democrats and Republicans will manage to put their differences aside to help businesses and millions of people. who lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic.
In their debate Thursday night, Trump and his Democratic challenger Biden struck a more substantial exchange than during their first raucous clash several weeks ago. There were no big surprises in the market movement.
“The final US presidential debate was less chaotic than the first one, but offered little new information to inform the outcome for the markets,” Axi’s Stephen Innes said in a comment.
“Meanwhile, the discussion relevant to the post-election economic outlook was limited, particularly from President Trump.” Germany’s DAX gained 0.9% to 12,654.60, while the CAC 40 in Paris rose 1.1% to 4,904.25. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 1% to 5,843.13 after Japan and the UK signed a trade deal to replace the pact with the European Union that will no longer apply after Britain leaves the bloc.
European stocks rose on strong corporate earnings reports that helped offset weak manufacturing data.
The sharply increasing number of coronavirus cases in most of Europe is increasing the likelihood of further disruptions due to business closures and other measures to combat the pandemic.
Investors are concerned about the rise of the coronavirus in Europe. France reported more than 40,000 new cases for the first time yesterday. Overall, daily Covid-19 cases are reaching their record number in Europe, ”Naeem Aslam of Avatrade.com said in a comment.
“The situation is not getting out of control yet, but the alarms have started to sound for sure,” Aslam said.
In Asian trade, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.2% to 23,516.59 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.7% to 24,945.08. In Seoul, the Kospi rose 0.2% to 2,360.81.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1% to 3,278.00. In Australia, the S & P / ASX 200 was down 0.1% to 6,167.00.
On Wall Street, stocks jolted from a shaky start to finish higher, with the S&P 500 closing 0.5% at 3,453.49 after several earnings reports from large US companies fared better than analysts expected. .
Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, have been negotiating daily this week on another dose of stimulus for the economy.
“Help is on the way. It will be bigger, it will be better, it will be safer and it will be retroactive,” Pelosi said.
Markets have been spinning for weeks as investors weigh the chances of Democrats and Republicans reaching an agreement on greater support for the economy. Time is running out to do something before the elections.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.5% to 28,363.66. The Nasdaq compound added 0.2% to 11,506.01. The Russell 2000 Small Cap Index rose 1.7% to 1,630.25.
Part of a stimulus agreement could be fringe benefits for workers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic. A report Thursday showed 787,000 workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, better than the previous week but still incredibly high.
In other trading on Friday, the 10-year Treasury yield was flat at 0.85% from 0.86% on Thursday night. It is still near its highest level since June.
US crude oil fell 23 cents to $ 40.41 a barrel in e-commerce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It added 61 cents to $ 40.64 a barrel on Thursday. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 20 cents to $ 42.26 a barrel.
The US dollar bought 104.70 Japanese yen, down from 104.86 yen on Thursday night. The euro rose to $ 1.1827 from $ 1.1820.
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