(Bloomberg) — Technology shares led U.S. stocks higher for a third day while traders continued to bet that lawmakers are moving closer to providing more fiscal stimulus. Treasury yields and a dollar gauge slipped.
The S&P 500 rose even with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi giving conflicting outlooks on a new comprehensive aid package. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 jumped more than 1% with chip maker Xilinx Inc. leaping on a report it’s in advanced talks for a $30 billion takeover by rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
“We’ve had this whipsaw around wondering if there will be more fiscal stimulus, which I think we desperately need to keep the economy rolling,” said Ron Temple, head of U.S. equity at Lazard Asset Management LLC.
European stocks gained as a host of companies raised outlooks, from Denmark’s drugmaker Novo Nordisk A/S to German online clothing retailer Zalando SE. Stocks fell in Spain, where the government’s cabinet met to declare a state of emergency for Madrid to control Covid-19. Italy’s 10-year bond yield fell a record low.
Investors are winding up a volatile week with a mild risk-on attitude. With Trump recuperating from Covid-19 in the final stretch of the election campaign, they’re increasingly betting a Joe Biden victory is likely. Speculation is moving now to whether Democrats will sweep Congress too and then enact massive stimulus.
“Large-scale fiscal easing will push down the value of the U.S. dollar, while giving bond yields a modest boost,” strategists led by Peter Berezin at BCA Research wrote in a note. “Non-U.S. stocks will outperform their U.S. peers. Value stocks will outperform growth stocks.”
Elsewhere, Vanguard Group Inc. returned about $21 billion in managed assets to government clients in China as part of a global shift to focus on low-cost funds for individual investors, according to people familiar with the matter.
Oil in New York is poised for a weekly gain of more than 10% with Hurricane Delta forcing operators to shut-in almost 92% of crude output in the Gulf of Mexico.
These are some of the main moves in global markets:
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