U.S. Stocks Rise for Fourth Day, Dollar Weakens: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks edged higher pushed their winning streak to four days amid a relative cooling of protectionist rhetoric between the world’s two largest economies and optimism growth can continue. Tesla Inc. surged after Elon Musk proposed taking the company private.

The S&P 500 Index closed at the highest level since its Jan. 26 record. Gains faded in the final half hour of trading as investors moved out of rate-sensitive shares amid a rise in Treasury yields. Industrial and energy stocks paced gains. The Cboe Volatility Index slid below 11 for the first time since May. Musk’s tweet punished short sellers. Commodities advanced. Chinese stocks drove a broad rally in Asia.

The Tesla news dominated an otherwise quiet afternoon session on Wall Street, with investors speculating on how serious the chief executive is about what would be the largest leveraged buyout in history. It overshadowed a strong end phase of an earnings season that’s seen most major U.S. companies surprise to the upside. That’s pushed the S&P 500 within 20 points of a record, even as investors fret over the escalating trade war between America and China.

The gains in emerging-market equities overshadowed rising woes in Turkey, where the yield on the country’s 10-year bonds touched a record high amid a diplomatic spat with the U.S. The lira clawed its way back from a record low, only to later give up some gains.

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Here are some key events coming up this week:

• The Bank of Japan releases a summary of opinions Wednesday from its July 30-31 meeting, at which it tweaked elements of its stimulus policy to make it more sustainable.
• Samsung Electronics unveils its next Galaxy Note smartphone.
• U.S. consumer prices probably rose in July, consistent with a pickup in inflation that’s projected to keep the Federal Reserve on a path of gradual interest-rate increases, economists forecast before Friday’s release.

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent to 2,858.56 as of 4 p.m. in New York.
• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.5 percent to the highest in a week.
• The MSCI All-Country World Index increased 0.5 percent to the highest in more than 20 weeks on the biggest climb in almost two weeks.
• The MSCI Emerging Market Index jumped 0.8 percent, the largest increase in two weeks.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.2 percent.
• The euro increased 0.4 percent to $1.1599, the first advance in more than a week.
• The Japanese yen was flat at 111.396 per dollar.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries climbed three basis points to 2.97 percent.
• Germany’s 10-year yield gained two basis point to 0.404 percent.
• Britain’s 10-year yield climbed two basis points to 1.304 percent.

Commodities

• The Bloomberg Commodity Index gained 0.5 percent to the highest in four weeks.
• West Texas Intermediate crude was flat at $69.02 a barrel, after earlier touching the highest in more than a week.
• Gold futures rose 0.1 percent to $1,218.30 an ounce.

--With assistance from Randall Jensen and Eddie van der Walt.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy Herron in New York at jherron8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net, Samuel Potter, Todd White

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