U.S. Stocks Advance, While Treasuries Decline: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- Stocks climbed after the biggest three-day drop since September amid appetite for risk assets. Treasuries fell.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose more than 2%, with chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. jumping on an upbeat forecast. Nike Inc. rallied as revenue in North America increased, offsetting a drop in China. Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. closed off session lows as Bloomberg News reported the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was set to authorize their pills to treat coronavirus as soon as this week.

President Joe Biden said he still has a chance to strike a deal with Democratic Senator Joe Manchin to get his roughly $2 trillion economic plan through Congress. He’s also considering lifting travel restrictions on people arriving from southern African countries where the omicron variant of coronavirus was first identified

“The omicron’s potential damage to economic activity will be reasonably short and shallow,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities. “With household and corporate balance-sheets in good shape and sentiment still strong, we think it’s reasonable to expect that the economy will manage to navigate the rough waters.”

Earlier Tuesday, Credit Suisse Group AG’s global investment committee slashed its stocks allocation to neutral from overweight, citing increasing risks from the omicron variant.

What to watch this week:

• EIA crude oil inventory report Wednesday
• Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda speaks Thursday
• U.S. consumer income, new home sales, U.S. durable goods, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, initial jobless claims. Thursday
• Friday: U.S. markets are closed. European markets close earlier

For more market analysis, read our MLIV blog.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 rose 1.8% as of 4 p.m. New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.3%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.6%
• The MSCI World index rose 1.7%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
• The euro was little changed at $1.1282
• The British pound rose 0.5% to $1.3269
• The Japanese yen fell 0.4% to 114.09 per dollar

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced five basis points to 1.47%
• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced six basis points to -0.31%
• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 10 basis points to 0.87%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 4.2% to $71.47 a barrel
• Gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,788.30 an ounce

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