How Is the Oil Market Pushing Stocks Higher?
As morale improved and oil prices stabilized, easing concerns of extended inflation, shares increased broadly across Asia on Monday; building on morning gains and a Friday Wall Street bounce.
As investors continued to evaluate the prognosis for U.S. rate rises and the possibility of a recession, Treasury yields remained muted, and the dollar stayed close to its lowest level in more than a week.
Australia’s benchmark index rose 2.03 percent and appears to head for its highest day in more than six weeks. Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.51 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 2.39 percent, while Chinese blue chips increased by 1.17 percent. The KOSPI in South Korea increased by 1.83 percent. The largest Asia-Pacific equity index maintained by MSCI increased 1.81 percent.
Outlook on the Stock Market
After dipping earlier in the day, U.S. stock futures are now marginally up by 0.8 percent. The S&P 500 increased by more than 3% on Friday, adding to a gain of roughly 1% on Thursday. Before the opening of trading on the European market, both FTSE and EURO STOXX 50 futures saw increases of 0.45%.
Crude oil dipped in choppy trade on Monday as the market struggled to balance worries about lost Russian supply due to sanctions over the Ukraine war against the worry that a global economic downturn may reduce demand. After volatile trading in the morning, both Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures remained unchanged for the day.
While WTI slipped 0.01 percent to $107.63 a barrel, Brent is up 0.1 percent at $113.2 a barrel. After recovering from a two-week low just above 3 percent at the end of last week as traders removed bets for hikes next year, long-term Treasury yields in the United States remained around 3.16 percent. However, traders wondered if aggressive tightening this year could lead to a recession.
Before the mid-month Fed meeting, yields reached a high of 3.456 percent, the highest level in more than a decade. The central bank increased interest rates by 75 basis points at that moment, the largest rise since 1994, and hinted that similar action might be taken in July.
