Stocks gear up for Big Tech earnings; yen sits near danger zone
Business
Stocks gear up for Big Tech earnings; yen sits near danger zone
LONDON (Reuters) - Global shares rose on Tuesday, driven by a recovery on Wall Street, where investors focus on earnings reports from the U.S. megacaps, while the yen hit a new 34-year low against the dollar, prompting a warning from Japanese officials.
The MSCI All-World index (.MIWD00000PUS), opens new tab, which on Friday hit a two-month low, was up 0.3%, lifted by gains in Europe, where the FTSE 100 (.FTSE), opens new tab scaled a record high, while the STOXX 600 (.STOXX), opens new tab traded at one-week highs thanks to the technology sector.
Adding to the optimism was a series of surveys of business activity that showed Germany returned to growth in early April after months of contraction, while activity in the broader euro zone expanded at its fastest clip in nearly a year.
Investors are less concerned right now about the threat of a major re-escalation of tension in the Middle East and more focused on earnings.
Against that backdrop, gold is heading for a week-on-week drop of 3.2%, its largest this year, while oil has backed off last week's highs.
"We are turning a bit more positive on risk sentiment. There still remains a fair bit of uncertainty around geopolitics and rising U.S. real yields, but we are more positive than we were a week ago," Mohit Kumar, a strategist at Jefferies, said.
The dollar retreated from its recent highs, but is comfortably supported by the view among investors that no rate cuts will be forthcoming any time soon from the Federal Reserve and by the climb this month in Treasury yields to their highest since November.
