Friday, September 20, 2024

Stocks Kick Off Jobs Week With Gains as Euro Rises: Markets Wrap

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(Bloomberg) — Stocks started the month on a positive note, with traders bracing for a deluge of economic reports while weighing the impacts of France’s election on markets.

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In the countdown to Friday’s all-important US jobs report, Wall Street will wade through a slew of data and remarks from Federal Reserve officials for clues on the central bank’s next steps. European shares snapped a four-day losing streak and the euro rose as French election results suggested there’s a smaller probability of extreme policies coming from the far-right.

“The vote is far from definitive. but leans in favor of the less bad scenario of a hung parliament, political paralysis in Paris and chronic dysfunction at the European Union level rather than the worse scenarios of an outright win for the far-right or far-left that might directly lead to a new sovereign crisis,” said Krishna Guha at Evercore.

Traders are also weighing their strategies after last week’s presidential debate. Morgan Stanley strategists say equity investors “should stay selective” and maintain a bias toward quality US stocks heading into election season. In a separate note, the firm said that the growing prospect of a Donald Trump presidential victory is making yield curve steepeners an attractive bet as growth will likely slow and inflation quicken under such a scenario.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3%. France’s CAC 40 Index jumped as much as 2.8% before retracing some gains. Banking stocks led the advance in Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index, as French lenders Societe Generale SA, BNP Paribas SA and Credit Agricole SA all surged by more than 5%. The euro climbed to its strongest level since mid June.

The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced six basis points to 4.45%. The dollar fluctuated.

Corporate Highlights:

  • Boeing Co. agreed to buy back Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. for $37.25 a share in an all-stock deal that values the supplier at $4.7 billion, unwinding a two-decade separation as the embattled US planemaker tries to fix its manufacturing defects.

  • Chewy Inc. surged after Keith Gill — known online as “Roaring Kitty” — disclosed a 6.6% passive stake in the online pet food and product retailer.

  • Meta Platforms Inc. has been slapped with a warning over its subscription model for ad-free services on Instagram and Facebook, risking potentially heavy fines in the European Union’s latest attack on Big Tech under tough new rules.

  • A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S withdrew its bid for DB Schenker, the logistics unit of Deutsche Bahn AG that’s been reported to be valued at more than €15 billion ($16.1 billion).

  • Air France-KLM is experiencing pressure on projected unit revenue this summer season at French units because passengers are avoiding Paris in the summer months to skirt possible disruptions and high prices during the Olympic Games.

  • BYD Co. sold a record number of electric and hybrid cars in the second quarter, sales data compiled by Bloomberg News shows, as price cuts and new technology stoked consumers into purchases.

Key events this week:

  • Eurozone CPI, unemployment, Tuesday

  • US job openings, Tuesday

  • Jerome Powell and Christine Lagarde speak at ECB forum in Portugal, Tuesday

  • China Caixin services PMI, Wednesday

  • Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, PPI, Wednesday

  • US Fed minutes, ADP employment, ISM Services, factory orders, initial jobless claims, durable goods, Wednesday

  • Fed’s John Williams speaks, Wednesday

  • UK general election, Thursday

  • US Independence Day holiday, Thursday

  • Eurozone retail sales, Friday

  • US jobs report, Friday

  • Fed’s John Williams speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

  • The S&P 500 rose 0.3% as of 9:30 a.m. New York time

  • The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2%

  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%

  • The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.6%

  • The MSCI World Index rose 0.3%

Currencies

  • The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed

  • The euro rose 0.4% to $1.0756

  • The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.2675

  • The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 161.39 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

  • Bitcoin rose 1.6% to $62,905.56

  • Ether rose 1.7% to $3,473.66

Bonds

  • The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced six basis points to 4.45%

  • Germany’s 10-year yield advanced nine basis points to 2.59%

  • Britain’s 10-year yield advanced seven basis points to 4.24%

Commodities

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Lynn Thomasson, Julien Ponthus, John Viljoen, Catherine Bosley, Matthew Burgess and Vildana Hajric.

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