Wall Street stocks climbed despite global stocks being mostly lower on Wednesday as investors continued to express worries about the pace of the economic recovery amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Еhe US reported another single-day record of 60,000 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 3 million on Tuesday. On the other hand, hopes of economic recovery and supportive measures from authorities helped investors to shrug off the negative developments on the virus front. As such, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7%, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8% and 1.4%, respectively.
Today in Asia, stocks followed suit, as investors looked past the renewed coronavirus lockdowns and rising US-China tensions and started to gradually shift focus to the upcoming earnings season. China’s Shanghai Composite Index added 0.6%, the Nikkei 225 in Japan gained 0.2%, the Hang Seng Hong Kong rose by 0.4% while Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.9%.
European stock markets opened mostly higher on Thursday after two days of losses. Regional investors are now awaiting further developments surrounding the European Union recovery fund. The UK’s FTSE 100, however, bucked the trend and dipped 0.5%, pressured by a selloff in financial and defensive sectors. On the positive side, software giant SAP signaled a rebound in its business from a coronavirus hit. The company’s stocks rallied over 7% after the business software giant released its second-quarter results, saying its adjusted operating profit rose 8%. DAX 30 in Germany rose by 1.03%.
Elsewhere, the dollar is mixed-to-lower on Thursday. EURUSD climbed to one-month highs of 1.1370 but failed to preserve the upside momentum and retreated to a flat-line. Meanwhile, GBPUSD is seeing a fifth straight day of gains, digesting yesterday’s comments by the UK finance minister Sunak and his new announcements to bolster the economy. The pair exceeded the 1.2650 region in recent trading, bringing the 200-DMA back into market focus. Meanwhile, USDJPY is making shallow recovery attempts around the 20-DMA, staying below the 107.50 intermediate resistance.
