U.S. stock futures and European equities climbed on Wednesday, with bond yields also rising as investors continued to push a rebound from an early-week rout. Investors were weighing up a fresh batch of earnings plus COVID-19 vaccine news.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index
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Dow futures
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The early-week losses were driven by investor concerns over the potential economy damage from a fresh wave of coronavirus cases, many stemming from the highly infectious delta variant, which have largely been hitting the unvaccinated.
“Overall, it’s difficult for stocks to bleed as long as there is no alternative. Bonds are loss-making assets in a positive inflation environment and commodity markets are far too volatile for big players to have any real exposure to. Dip buying will probably remain a winning strategy until this paradigm changes,” said Marios Hadjikyriacos, senior investment analyst at XM, in a note to clients.
A fresh study released on Tuesday indicated Johnson & Johnson‘s one-shot COVID-19 vaccine may be much less effective against the highly contagious delta variant. The study, which examined blood samples in a lab setting, hasn’t been peer-reviewed. A J&J spokeswoman told the New York Times that data from the latest study “do not speak to the full nature of immune protection.”
Along with climbing stocks, bond yields continued to rise, with that of the 10-year Treasury note
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Corporate news was out front, with shares of heavily weight ASML Holding
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Weighing on the DAX, shares of SAP
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Also slipping were shares of Daimler
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Akzo Nobel
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