Published: 09:38, October 7, 2020 | Updated: 15:18, June 5, 2023
Wall Street rises, shaking off Trump's stimulus shock
By Bloomberg

SINGAPORE / NEW YORK - Wall Street’s main indexes jumped on Wednesday, recouping losses from the previous session triggered by President Donald Trump’s abrupt call to end stimulus talks, while Levi Strauss hit a four-month high after posting a surprise quarterly profit.

All the major S&P indexes were up, led by broad-based gains in materials, financials, industrials and consumer discretionary stocks.

At 10:02 am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.21 percent, the S&P 500 was up 1.11 percent and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.17 percent.

The Dow Jones airlines index jumped 3.1% after Trump urged Congress on Tuesday to pass a series of smaller, stand-alone bills that would include a bailout package for the battered airline industry.

Investors in Asia, however, seemed less rattled, figuring that whoever wins the US presidential election will inherit an economy hungry for stimulus and will probably apply it.

European futures only slightly negative, with Euro STOXX 50 futures down 0.4 percent and FTSE futures down 0.2 percent.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan crept 0.4 percent higher to a fresh two-week peak, led by a 1.3 percent gain in Australia where an expansionary budget lifted stocks.

“One way or another we’re going to get some stimulus, it’s just we’re not going to get it now,” said ING’s chief economist in Asia, Rob Carnell. “So we’ll tread water for a bit.”

Currency markets and bond markets were broadly steady. The euro held at US$1.1730. The risk-sensitive Antipodean currencies crept higher, with the Aussie up 0.3 percent to US$0.7120 and the kiwi up 0.1 percent to US$0.6592.

The yield on benchmark US 10-year government debt rose 1 basis point to 0.7536 percent.

Investors are awaiting minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s September meeting due at 1800 GMT for guidance as to how the central bank plans to push inflation higher and how long it might let it run above 2 percent before tightening its ultra-loose monetary policy.

Australian government bonds rallied in anticipation of quantitative easing from the central bank and a lower cap on three-year yields, which fell to a record low of 0.138 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei eased 0.2 percent on Wednesday, but has avoided the selloffs that have dragged on US markets in recent weeks.

In commodity markets, oil futures gave up some of their recent gains amid supply concerns.