Global Stocks Shrug Off Rate Fears To Post Gains

New York, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Feb, 2018 ) :Global stocks mostly rose Friday, with Wall Street turning in a strong performance, as fearful speculation on US rate hikes took a back burner.

Worries about rising interest rates have hovered over the market since the strong February 2 US jobs report raised the prospect that the Federal Reserve could accelerate its pace of rate increases.

But the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond, seen as a proxy for interest rates, pulled back Friday. That helped produce what was by the far the market's best trading day of the week. And in its semi-annual report to Congress, the Fed appeared to tamp down concerns that higher wages would boost inflation.

"Investors are in a good mood ... and the Fed's report seemed to indicate that we may not need as many rate hikes as they once thought," Gorilla Trades strategist Ken Berman said in a note. The S&P 500 finished up 1.6 percent, with technology and petroleum-linked shares especially strong.

Europe's main stock markets were slightly higher at the close, except for London which was under pressure from a strong pound and some weak corporate results. Gold slipped back, a good indicator of investors regaining some appetite for risk.

Oil prices pushed higher for a second session in a row following a bullish US petroleum inventory report released Thursday. Among individual companies, Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland slumped 4.8 percent in London despite the state-rescued bank posting its first profit since 2007, on the eve of the global financial crisis.

"It seems that investors were put off by the lack of clarity surrounding RBS' settlement with the US Department of Justice" linked to the US subprime mortgage crisis a decade ago, said Connor Campbell, analyst at Spreadex trading group.

In New York, natural pet food company Blue Buffalo Pet Products soared 17.2 percent after agreeing to be acquired by General Mills for $8 billion. General Mills dropped 3.6 percent. Nordstrom surged 6.5 percent following a report that the department store chain is close to a transaction to take the company private.

- Key figures around 2130 GMT - New York - DOW: UP 1.4 percent at 25,309.99 (close) New York - S&P 500: UP 1.6 percent at 2,747.30 (close) New York - Nasdaq: UP 1.8 percent at 7,337.39 (close) London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 7,244.41 (close) Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.2 percent at 12,483.79 (close) Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 5,317.37 (close) EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.3 percent at 3,441.46 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.7 percent at 21,892.78 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 1.0 percent at 31,267.17 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 3,289.02 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.2296 from $1.2330 at 2150 GMT Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3968 from $1.3956 Dollar/yen: UP at 106.83 Yen from 106.75 yen Oil - Brent North Sea: UP 92 cents at $67.31 per barrel Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP 78 cents at $63.55 per barrel