(Bloomberg) — Stocks were mixed Monday as traders weighed a global advance in sovereign bond yields and corporate developments.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index and U.S. futures rose, while Asian shares fell. A dollar gauge was little changed and oil fluctuated. U.S. stock and bond markets are shut Monday for a holiday.
Bond yields rose around the world after U.S. Treasuries tumbled Friday on concerns about more hawkish Federal Reserve policy to fight inflation. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said Friday the central bank could raise rates as many as seven times, while billionaire investor Bill Ackman argued for a bigger-than-expected 50 basis point move in March to “restore its credibility.”
The advance of the omicron virus strain, the start of the earnings season and a boom in mergers and acquisitions are also coloring sentiment. Investors are looking for signs that corporate profits can help arrest a retreat in global equities led in part by a slide in U.S. technology shares.
“Given the record inflation backdrop and historically tight labor market, investor focus is on margins — demonstrating pricing power, passing on rising costs to the customer,” Julian Emanuel, chief equity and quantitative strategist at Evercore ISI, wrote in a note.
Among individual movers on Monday, Unilever Plc shares fell more than 6%, while GlaxoSmithKline Plc rose by a similar amount after Glaxo said over the weekend that it rejected three offers from the consumer-products company for its consumer health unit. Glencore Plc rose to the highest in almost a year.
In corporate developments, Credit Suisse Group AG’s Chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio was ousted for breaching Covid quarantine rules, throwing the Swiss financial giant into fresh turmoil as it struggles to emerge from a series of scandals.
Meanwhile, China’s central bank eased policy on Monday to counter an economic slowdown. A real-estate slump and partial Covid shutdowns are among the challenges for the world’s second-largest economy. The move contrasts with the shift toward tighter monetary policy in the U.S. and elsewhere to contain price pressures.
“The PBOC really has started the New Year in a different position to, let’s say, other global banks and we do expect to see further easing or supportive measures, both monetary-wise as well as from a fiscal stance,” Catherine Yeung, investment director at Fidelity International, said on Bloomberg Television.
For more market analysis, read our MLIV blog.
What to watch this week:
-
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, UnitedHealth Group and Netflix are among companies publishing earnings during the week
-
U.S. data includes Empire manufacturing Tuesday, housing starts Wednesday and jobless claims Thursday
-
Bank of Japan monetary policy decision, Tuesday
-
Interest-rate decisions due from nations including Indonesia, Malaysia, Norway, Turkey and Ukraine, Thursday
-
EIA crude oil inventory report, Thursday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
-
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.6% as of 9:50 a.m. London time
-
Futures on the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2%
-
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%
-
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.8%
-
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.5%
Currencies
-
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
-
The euro was little changed at $1.1418
-
The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 114.48 per dollar
-
The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.3517 per dollar
-
The British pound was little changed at $1.3676
Bonds
Commodities
-
Brent crude was little changed
-
Spot gold rose 0.2% to $1,821.65 an ounce
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
