U.S. Stocks Post Winning Week as Dollar Steadies: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks edged higher Friday, capping the best week in two months amid growing conviction that inflation will remain tame and as trade tensions eased.

The S&P 500 Index was buoyed by telecom companies as tech shares weighed on the gauge. The dollar steadied, leaving it little changed for the week, while 10-year Treasury yields held below 3 percent. Emerging-market shares rose for a fifth day, the best streak since January. Oil slipped, but notched a second weekly advance after the U.S. quit the Iran nuclear deal.

The week saw a bullish tone take hold in equities following a great earnings season for the biggest U.S. companies and removal of some trade anxiety as China seemed to soften its tone. At the same time, investor anxiety about a rapid rise in global interest rates was eased after a tame inflation reading in the U.S. and a dovish policy decision by the Bank of England.

“What has gotten stocks going again is the reality that maybe rates are not going to be rising to the moon and the dollar is not going to continue to strengthen,” Krishna Memani, the chief investment officer at OppenheimerFunds Inc., said in an interview at Bloomberg’s New York headquarters. “The underlying fundamentals in terms of economic growth, earnings, has been extraordinarily good.”

Easing geopolitical tensions aided gains in Asian stocks, with Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un set for their landmark meeting in Singapore on June 12. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index edged higher. Malaysian assets trading offshore began to stabilize after the shock election win for the opposition. Argentina’s peso fell to a record low as the country seeks a credit line from the International Monetary Fund.

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These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 Index rose 0.2 percent as of the close of trading in New York.
• The Nasdaq Composite Index was little changed.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4 percent.
• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.1 percent.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.9 percent to the highest in seven weeks.
• The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.6 percent.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed.
• The euro increased 0.3 percent to $1.1945.
• The British pound increased 0.2 percent to $1.3543.
• The Japanese yen rose 0.1 percent to 109.3 per dollar.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose 1 basis point to 2.97 percent.
• Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.55 percent.
• Britain’s 10-year yield rose 1 basis point to 1.44 percent.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.1 percent to $70.56 a barrel.
• Gold slipped 0.2 percent to $1,319.20 an ounce.
• Copper was little changed at $3.11 a pound.

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