World News | Stocks Rise on Stimulus Moves but US-China Tensions Simmer
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Global shares advanced Monday after US President Donald Trump issued executive orders to provide tax relief and stopgap unemployment benefits for Americans hit by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
London, Aug 10 (AP) Global shares advanced Monday after US President Donald Trump issued executive orders to provide tax relief and stopgap unemployment benefits for Americans hit by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Market gains were capped, however, after China announced unspecified sanctions against 11 U.S. politicians and heads of organizations promoting democratic causes, including Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, who have already been singled out by Beijing.
Investors are watching for further developments on stimulus for the U.S. economy and on trade tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Trade talks between the countries are planned for Friday, to be held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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The future contract for the Dow industrials gained 0.3 per cent while that for the S&P 500 was flat.
In Europe, Germany's DAX was up 0.1 per cent at 12,691 while the CAC 40 in France added 0.4 per cent to 4,909. Britain's FTSE 100 picked up 0.3per cent to 6,052.
“It has been an unusually risk-friendly start to the Monday proceedings, but there is still a lot of wood to be chopped on the U.S. stimulus deal, while August 15 trade talks loom ominously," Stephen Innes of AxiCorp said in a commentary.
Stock prices fell in Hong Kong after the authorities arrested pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai and some of his associates on suspicion of collusion with foreign powers.
The Hang Seng index dropped 0.6% to 24,377.43. Lai was arrested Monday under the city's national security law and posts on Twitter showed him being taken away by police, as dozens of uniformed police searched the headquarters of his newspaper, Apple Daily.
The national security law that came into effect June 30 is widely seen as a means to curb dissent after anti-government protests rocked Hong Kong last year.
It has raised questions over whether and to what extent Communist Party leaders in Beijing will respect the “one-party, two-systems" arrangement promised to the former British colony for a half-century after China took control of the semi-autonomous in 1997.
Meanwhile, China imposed sanctions on 11 Americans, exactly equaling the number of Hong Kong and Chinese officials placed on a sanctions list by the U.S. last week over the crackdown.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi jumped 1.5 per cent to 2,386.38 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia surged 1.8 per cent to 6,110.20. The Shanghai Composite index advanced 0.8 per cent to 3,379.25.
China reported its consumer price index rose to 2.7 per cent in July from 2.5 per cent in June as flooding disrupted farming across much of the country, pushing food prices higher.
But producer prices and core inflation, which exclude food and energy prices, fell to a ten-year low of 0.5 per cent, reflecting continued weakness amid the pandemic.
Sentiment on Wall Street was lifted Friday by positive U.S. jobs data, with U.S. employers adding nearly 1.8 million jobs last month, about 185,000 more than economists had forecast.
The S&P 500 inched up 0.1 per cent to 3,351.28 to eke out a sixth straight gain on Friday. It is within 1 per cent of its record high set in February.
But uncertainty overhangs the markets, with the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. surpassing 5 million.
With Republicans and Democrats in Congress reportedly far apart late last week on stimulus legislation, Trump issued a set of four executive orders. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)