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US and European stocks followed Asian markets higher on Monday, as traders assessed stimulus measures from Beijing and looked ahead to jobs data for the world’s biggest economy.
Wall Street’s S&P 500 was up 0.3 per cent just after midday in New York, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite gauge added 0.4 per cent.
US-listed Chinese tech companies contributed to the modest gains, with JD.com and Baidu adding more than 2 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively.
Those moves came after Beijing cut a levy on share trading for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis. China’s ministry of finance introduced additional measures to support the country’s struggling market on Sunday, saying it would halve the stamp duty on stock trading in order to boost investor confidence.
The announcement marks the latest in a number of attempts by China’s top officials to provide stimulus to the world’s second-largest economy, which has struggled to regain momentum after three years of severe pandemic restrictions.
3M was another gainer on Wall Street, adding almost 5 per cent following reports it is close to finalising a $6bn settlement over legal claims that earplugs supplied to US military personnel failed to protect from hearing loss.
In Europe, the regional Stoxx 600 gauge closed 0.9 per cent higher, following two successive days of losses. Tech stocks led the gains, with the Stoxx 600 Technology index rising 1.7 per cent. Markets in the UK were closed for a public holiday.
European luxury goods stocks, which are closely linked to China’s consumer spending expectations, also advanced, with heavyweights Hermès and LVMH gaining 1.8 per cent and 1.7 per cent, respectively.
China’s benchmark CSI 300 index of Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed stocks closed 1.2 per cent higher, having climbed as much as 5.5 per cent earlier in the session. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index finished 1 per cent higher.
Traders were also on Monday looking ahead to US labour market data due at the end of the week, which will be scrutinised for clues about the future path of interest rate rises.
Economists polled by Reuters predict that non-farm payrolls grew by 170,000 in August, compared with 187,000 in July.
US Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell said on Friday at the Jackson Hole economic conference that inflation “remains too high”, raising the prospect of more rate rises if price pressures persist.
The US central bank last raised the benchmark federal funds rate to a 22-year high in July, leaving the door open for additional tightening if rate-setters deem it necessary.
The dollar slipped 0.1 per cent lower against a basket of six other currencies.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was down 0.03 percentage points on Monday at 4.2 per cent, while the policy-sensitive two-year yield added 0.01 percentage points to 5.07 per cent. Bond yields rise as their prices fall.
Trading volumes are often lighter in late August, compounded on Monday by the UK holiday.
Elsewhere in Asian markets, Japan’s Topix index rose 1.5 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.6 per cent.
