U.S.-EU trade deal pushes stock rally to fourth day

Reuters  |  NEW YORK 

By Trevor Hunnicutt

Trump and the European Commission's chief, Jean Claude-Juncker, agreed to work to lower industrial tariffs on both sides and to increase European imports of liquefied and soybeans from the United States, among other measures, the U.S. said in a conference.

The <.DJI> rose 172.16 points, or 0.68 percent, to 25,414.1, the <.SPX> gained 25.67 points, or 0.91 percent, to 2,846.07 and the <.IXIC> added 91.47 points, or 1.17 percent, to 7,932.24.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe <.MIWD00000PUS> gained 0.53 percent after earlier flirting with losses.

"Trade war type headlines have been the biggest of market sentiment - both for Treasuries and stocks - for quite a while now. This is the first time we've gotten good news," said Thomas Simons, at

Trade has been a significant barrier to the markets, but the respite may not last long.

Markets are also focused on the busiest earnings reporting week of the quarter for companies and also awaiting a meeting and U.S. gross domestic product figures later this week.

shares were more than 7 percent lower after they reported results that fell short of analysts' monthly active user estimates.

Yet of the 148 companies that reported quarterly earnings so far, 86 percent have topped Wall Street forecasts, a record dating back to 1994, according to I/B/E/S.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies <.DXY>, fell 0.4 percent, further scaling down from its July 19 peak for 2018, when Trump suggested the greenback had grown too strong.

Gold, which is priced in dollars and typically rises when the currency falls, added 0.6 percent to $1,231.71 an ounce on the spot market.

An early reprieve for 10-year Treasury notes, a benchmark for global borrowing costs, faded with the trade

have been whipsawed this month by speculation the could withdraw stimulus and by bets that the gap between short and long-term yields would widen if Trump pressured the Federal Reserve to stop dollar-boosting rate hikes. The latter wager - on a "steeper" yield curve - unwound for a second straight day.

The 10-year notes fell 4/32 in price to yield 2.9653 percent, and the gap between 2 and 10-year yields shrank to 29 basis points, from highs above 33 basis points on Tuesday.

rose for a second day after U.S. crude inventories fell to the lowest in over three years, soothing worries about oversupply.

U.S. crude futures settled up 1.14 percent at $69.30 per barrel, while Brent climbed 0.67 percent to $73.93.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by and in New York and Marc Jones in London; Editing by and Chizu Nomiyama)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Thu, July 26 2018. 02:46 IST