U.S. Stocks Jump With Peso, Loonie on Trade Pact: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks ended mixed, with multinational companies rising and domestically focused small caps sinking the most since July after the last-minute clinching of a new Nafta deal. Canada’s dollar remained higher, while Mexico’s peso gave back its rise.

The S&P 500 Index finished higher but more stocks fell than rose in the market-cap weighted index. Industrial titan Boeing Co. led the advance among blue chips, while the Russell 2000 Index fell more than 1.5 percent. General Electric Co. surged after replacing its chief executive, while Tesla Inc. rallied after Elon Musk settled with regulators. The loonie jumped 0.8 percent versus the dollar. Oil topped $75 a barrel in New York.

A measure of confidence returned to markets after American and Canadian representatives announced a trade deal to be known as the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement, making modest revisions to the old Nafta framework. Political drama in Washington still swirled around Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, but investors remained focus on a spate of corporate news and economic data due this week.

In Europe, the broad equity gauge rose for the fourth day in five, led by oil and chemical companies. Italian bonds extended their slide from last week, dragging European debt lower as uncertainty persisted over a budget accord. Investors will be watching the market closely; the ECB has cut monthly bond purchases in half to 15 billion euros ($17 billion) starting this month. The euro turned lower even as data showed growth in factory output slid to the weakest pace in two years in the single currency area.

In Asia, volumes were below normal in a number of markets -- it’s Labor Day in Australia, Hong Kong is shut and China is out through Oct. 7. Japan’s blue-chip Nikkei 225 Average closed at its highest level in nearly 27 years.

Terminal users can read our Markets Live blog.

Here are some key events coming up this week:

• U.K. Conservative Party in second day of its annual conference Monday. Prime Minister Theresa May speaks Oct. 3. in Birmingham.
• Central bank policy decision are scheduled by the Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday and Reserve Bank of India on Friday.
• U.S. employment reports for September also due Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent at 4 p.m. in New York, after rising as much as 0.8 percent.
• The Russell 2000 Index fell 1.4 percent, the most since July.
• The Nasdaq 100 Index rose to an intraday record before paing the gain to finish little changed.
• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.2 percent.
• The MSCI Emerging Market Index slipped 0.2 percent.
• Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 0.5 percent to the highest in about 27 years.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1 percent.
• The euro dipped 0.2 percent for a fourth day of losses.
• The Mexican peso ended virtually unchanged at 18.715 per dollar. It rose as much as 1.2 percent.
• The Canadian dollar jumped 0.8 percent to C$1.28041 per U.S. dollar, the strongest in 19 weeks.
• The Japanese yen fell 0.2 percent to 113.96 per dollar, the weakest in about 11 months.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 3.087 percent.
• The yield on two-year Treasuries increased less than one basis point to 2.82 percent.
• Italy’s 10-year yield climbed 15 basis points to 3.295 percent.

Commodities

• The Bloomberg Commodity Index gained 1.4 percent to the highest since June.
• West Texas Intermediate crude advanced 3.1 percent to $75.52 a barrel, the highest in almost four years.
• Gold futures lost 0.2 percent to $1,193.20 an ounce.

--With assistance from Brandon Kochkodin, Cormac Mullen and Todd White.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jeremy Herron in New York at jherron8@bloomberg.net;Sarah Ponczek in New York at sponczek2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Samuel Potter at spotter33@bloomberg.net;Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net

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