Biden invited Republicans to a meeting to discuss his proposed $1.9 trillion economic aid plan
Wall Street stocks closed with solid gains overnight, bouncing from deep losses seen last week when worries about speculative trading mania surrounding GameStop Corp. and several other heavily shorted stocks triggered a massive sell-off in the US markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8%, the S&P 500 added 1.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite surged 2.55%.
Today in Asia, equities were broadly higher as well, with risk sentiment improving further after President Joe Biden invited Republicans to a meeting to discuss his proposed $1.9 trillion economic aid plan. As a reminder, on Sunday, Republicans countered with an offer of $600 billion. Aa such, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.8% while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added nearly 1%. 0.8%. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong advanced 1.23%. The Kospi Seoul was 1.32% higher and Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.49%.
European equities opened higher to start the day as risk sentiment keeps more optimistic, with S&P 500 futures being also up by 0.5%. On the data front, France’s January preliminary CPI arrived at +0.6% versus +0.3% y/y expected while in the UK, January Nationwide house prices came in at -0.3% versus +0.3% m/m expected. The pan-European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.7% early in the session.
In currencies, there is a bit of a mixed picture on Tuesday after a strong dollar rally witnessed yesterday amid a plunge in the euro amid dismal economic data out of Germany. EURUSD is clinging to the 1.2055 support, a break below which would send the prices to early-December lows and would also pave the way toward the 1.2000 handle. Later today, the Eurozone GDP data could add to the selling pressure surrounding the euro if the figures disappoint.