The overall mood among investors is a bit more positive after yesterday’s gains in Wall Street stocks
US stocks rose on Thursday, recovering from the worst sell-off in months after the Federal Reserve signaled that a March cut is unlikely. The S&P 500 advanced 1.25%, the Dow Jones gained almost 1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished 1.3% higher after a more than 2% decline during the previous session that was the worst session since October. In individual stocks, shares of Meta rallied more than 12% after the closing bell as the company topped earnings estimates and announced a $0.50 cash dividend.
Despite optimism about technology shares on Wall Street, Asian equities were mixed on Friday. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped nearly 1.5%, South Korea’s Kospi surged 2.87%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng reversed early gains to shed 0.21%. The Shanghai Composite lost 1.46% and Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.3%. Chinese stocks continued to underperform following disappointing PMI data released earlier this week. In part, gains in the region were capped by caution ahead of key US nonfarm payrolls data.
In Europe, stocks opened higher ahead of the weekend, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 up 0.6% in early deals, staying close to the two-year highs it saw in late January. The overall mood among investors is a bit more positive at the balance after yesterday’s gains in Wall Street stocks. US stock index futures were mostly up in early pre-market deals, suggesting positive risk sentiment will persist until the weekend.
Meanwhile, the US dollar fell on Thursday after another failure to overcome the 103.80 resistance that has been capping gains since mid-January. As a result of a solid rejection, the USD index slipped back to the 103.00 zone despite a relatively hawkish tone from the Fed this week. Should the psychological support give up any time soon, the greenback may target the 102.75 zone next. If the upcoming jobs report comes in better than expected, a bounce in the USD could be expected.
