HONG KONG (AP) – Global stocks rose Monday after U.S. stock indexes neared records, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing above 40,000 for the first time.
Oil prices rose as investors focused on the Middle East. In the Middle East, a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials crashed in the mountains of northwest Iran on Sunday.
European markets started the week higher, with Britain’s FTSE 100 index up 0.3% to 8,447.28. Germany’s DAX rose 0.4% to 18,770.02, while Paris’ CAC40 rose 0.4% to 8,197.72.
The S&P 500 futures index rose 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose less than 0.1%.
The People’s Bank of China has announced new support for the real estate industry, including reducing the down payment required for home loans, lowering mortgage interest rates for first and second home purchases, and eliminating the lower limit on mortgage interest rates. As a result, Chinese markets extended last week’s gains.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.3% to 19,608.30, while the property index rose 0.3%. Country Garden Holdings, one of many troubled developers, saw its U.S.-listed shares rise 18.5% on Friday after announcing the policy.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5% to 3,171.15.
The People’s Bank of China on Monday kept its one-year and five-year loan prime rates unchanged at 3.45% and 3.95%, as expected. The one-year LPR serves as the benchmark for most new and outstanding loans in China, while the five-year rate influences the pricing of real estate mortgages.
In the Tokyo market, the Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.7% to 39,069.68. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6% to 7,863.70. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.6% to 2,742.14.
Elsewhere, Taiwan’s Thai Ex rose 0.1% after Lai Ching-de was sworn in as the country’s new president. Mr. Lai supports the island’s policy of de facto independence from China and is expected to strengthen its defense against the Chinese government, which claims the island as Chinese territory.
In Bangkok, the SET rose 0.1%.
On Friday, the Dow rose 0.3% to 40,003.59. Despite high inflation, the punitive impact of high interest rates, and fears of a recession that seemed inevitable but has yet to arrive, the U.S. economy and corporate profits have shown resilience. The index and other Wall Street indexes have been rising since fall 2022.
The S&P 500, the more important index to Wall Street and most retirement savers, rose 0.1%, ending a four-week streak of gains. The Nasdaq Composite Stock Price Index fell 0.1% to 16,685.97.
Last week’s report reignited hopes that inflation is finally getting back on track after a gloomy start to the year. That has reignited expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rates at least once this year.
The federal funds rate is at its highest level in more than 20 years, and a cut would reduce investment prices and take some of the downward pressure off the economy.
The hope is that the Fed can strike a balance between slowing the economy enough through high interest rates to eliminate high inflation, but not enough to cause a bad recession.
Of course, with a growing share of traders betting that the Fed will cut rates two or more times this year, some economists are warning that optimism may be overdone, as is common on Wall Street.
In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.43% from 4.38% late Thursday.
In other trading Monday, benchmark U.S. crude rose 2 cents to $79.60 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 24 cents to $84.22 per barrel.
The dollar rose from 155.55 yen to 155.76 yen. The euro rose to $1.0874 from $1.0871.
