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Tech Surge Sends Stock Indexes to Record Highs: Markets Wrap

Stock Gains to Extend to Asia on Profit, U.S. Tax: Markets Wrap

Tech Surge Sends Stock Indexes to Record Highs: Markets Wrap
Pedestrians wait at a street crossing in front of an electronic stock board outside a securities firm in Tokyo, Japan. (Photographer: Junko Kimura/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Technology shares surged on stellar profit at Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc., sending the Nasdaq 100 to a record on its biggest gain since March of last year.

The S&P 500 Index also hit a new high, after the U.S. saw its strongest consecutive quarters of growth in gross domestic product in three years. Bonds rose as speculation mounted about the next Federal Reserve chair.

“The GDP number is pretty much kind of a continuing series of upside surprises in the global economy,” Krishna Memani, chief investment officer at OppenheimerFunds Inc., said by phone. “Growth has been significantly better, perhaps better than what most of us had expected, and it continues to surprise on the upside. That’s not just in the U.S.”

Tech Surge Sends Stock Indexes to Record Highs: Markets Wrap

Recent data have also underscored the strengthening recovery in the euro-area, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. saying European companies are showing profit growth that’s twice the pace of their U.S. counterparts in the third quarter. That’s helping propel the Stoxx Europe 600 Index to its best annual performance since 2013.

Positive earnings surprises from companies including Volkswagen AG boosted confidence, though miners underperformed as the greenback’s run hit industrial-metal prices. As stocks gained, the euro headed for its worst week since November. The pound dropped as concerns about the Brexit process lingered.

Spanish stocks continued to lag as Europe’s worst constitutional crisis for decades came to head. Catalan lawmakers Friday voted to set up an independent state. Spain’s prime minister dismissed the regional government, dissolved its parliament and called a regional election for Dec. 21.

In the U.S., House Republicans unlocked a process to cut taxes by the end of the year. Treasury yields fell on a report that President Donald Trump is leaning toward nominating Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell to lead the U.S. central bank, a move that would signal continuity in monetary policy.

A potential Powell nomination brings “more of a relief that, although the Fed may tighten, they’re not really taking on a hawkish stance,” David James, who helps oversee $6 billion at James Investment Research in Xenia, Ohio, said by phone.

Oil rose, with West Texas Intermediate crude at about a six-month high and Brent crude climbing past $60 a barrel for the first time since July 2015.

Earlier, Japan’s stocks rose, sending the Nikkei 225 Stock Average through 22,000 for the first time since 1996 and ending their seventh week of gains. Shares also advanced in Hong Kong and Seoul.

Terminal users can read more in our Markets Live blog.

These are some of the remaining events on the slate for the coming week:

  • President Donald Trump has said he’ll reveal his choice to lead the Fed by Nov. 3. 
  • The Fed’s next rate decision is on Nov. 1, with economists expecting the central bank to keep rates at 1.25 percent and to increase them at the December meeting.
  • The U.S. October payroll report comes out Nov. 3.

And here are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

  • The S&P 500 Index climbed 0.81 percent at 4:05 p.m. New York time.
  • The Nasdaq 100 Stock Index added 2.91 percent.
  • The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.55 percent.
  • The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index increased 0.25 percent. 
  • Germany’s DAX Index advanced 0.64 percent to the highest on record.

Currencies

  • The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed less than 0.05 percent. 
  • The euro dipped 0.4 percent to $1.16, the weakest in 14 weeks. 
  • The British pound declined 0.3 percent to $1.3127. 

Bonds

  • The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell four basis points to 2.42 percent. 
  • Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 0.38 percent. 
  • Britain’s 10-year yield dipped four basis points to 1.348 percent.

Commodities

  • West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.5 percent to $53.97 a barrel, the highest in about six months; Brent crude rose 1.9 percent to $60.40, the highest in about two years.  
  • Gold gained 0.5 percent to $1,272.96 an ounce. 
  • Copper dipped 2.2 percent to $6,830 a metric ton.

Asia

  • Japan’s Topix index rose 1 percent at the end of the session in Tokyo. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 1.2 percent.
  • Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 0.2 percent to complete its first weekly slide in four.
  • South Korea’s Kospi index climbed 0.7 percent.
  • Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.7 percent, while the Shanghai Composite Index was little changed.

--With assistance from Richard Frost and Andreea Papuc

To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Brand in Cape Town at rbrand9@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, Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Andrew Dunn, Cormac Mullen

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.