(Bloomberg) — Stocks in Asia headed for their biggest daily gain since 2008, emulating the rebound on Wall Street Tuesday, and the dollar retreated further as investors took in strengthening U.S. stimulus measures.
Futures on the S&P 500 pared much of early Wednesday losses after the White House and Congress reached a deal on a fiscal package of almost $2 trillion. The dollar fell for a second straight day, with central banks around the world now supplying greenbacks through daily operations. Crude oil climbed toward $25 a barrel in New York. European futures advanced, and the MSCI Asia Pacific Index was up over 5%. Treasuries were flat.
Investors are on watch whether U.S. and global equity indexes can on Wednesday post their first back-to-back daily gains since mid-February. The number of infections globally continues to accelerate and many of the largest economies are grinding to a halt.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 11% to clock its biggest advance since 1933. Still, key gauges of U.S. manufacturing and services in March fell the most on record, showing the deep toll the pandemic has already taken.
“We still need to see a slowing of the virus cases and a peaking in the U.S., because until then we’ll have these huge relief-rally days,” Carol Pepper, chief executive officer at Pepper International, told Bloomberg TV. “Until then we’ll get a scary day and the market will plunge down again.”
Meantime, in India, where stocks underperformed on Wednesday, there is a three-week national lockdown.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
Japan’s Topix index rose 6.9% as of the close in Tokyo.S&P 500 futures fell 0.6% after falling more than 2% earlier. The S&P 500 advanced 9.4% on Tuesday.South Korea’s Kospi index gained 5.7%.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 3%.The Shanghai Composite gained 2.3%.Euro Stoxx 50 futures were up 0.5%.
Currencies
The yen traded flat at 111.21 per dollar.The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.0776 per dollar.The euro gained 0.3% to $1.0818.
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped a basis point to 0.84%.Australia’s 10-year bond yield rose about eight basis points to 0.97%.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3.5% to $24.85 a barrel.Gold fell 1.2% to $1,613 an ounce.
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