U.S. stocks climbed for a second straight session Friday but remain on track for modest weekly declines as investors parse signs of slowing economic growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 210 points, or 0.8%, in early trading and U.S. Treasury yields ticked higher. Despite the rise, the Dow industrials are still on track to end the week nearly 2% lower, while the yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury note remains near record lows.
It’s been a choppy few days for traders and investors, many of whom hoped for quiet as the summer wanes. If Friday’s move holds, the blue-chip index will have closed up or down at least 200 points on all but one trading session this week.
The yield on 10-year Treasurys rose to 1.545% on Friday, from 1.534% on Thursday. The 30-year note slipped below 2% again and was briefly as low as 1.979%, according to Tradeweb.
Many seasoned bond investors, like David Lloyd, head of institutional portfolio management in the public-debt team at M&G Investments, have been taken aback by the pace at which investors have piled into debt markets this year, sending yields to record lows.
“The level we have got to would have been utterly unimaginable, certainly before the global financial crisis completely unimaginable,” Mr. Lloyd said.
U.S. stocks also climbed on some corporate news. Shares of Nvidia , the California-based chip maker, gained 8% on unexpectedly strong sales-growth figures.
The rise Friday marks the second positive session in a row. U.S. stocks posted gains Thursday after figures showed American consumer spending had remained strong in the face of global headwinds, countering manufacturing weakness.
That optimism spilled over to the rest of the world. In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.9%, while stocks in Shanghai rose 0.3% and Japan’s Nikkei edged up 0.1%.
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 1%, led by gains in its technology and utilities sectors.
In commodities, Brent crude rose 1.1%, paring earlier gains after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries downgraded its demand growth forecast for the rest of 2019.
Oil prices have been volatile in recent sessions as tensions in the Strait of Hormuz ratcheted up. This week, Gibraltar released an Iranian tanker impounded in July, opening the door for Tehran to free a British-flagged vessel it seized. Fears about a global slowdown has also pressured oil, as slowing economies can lead to weaker consumption.
The Commerce Department reported Friday that U.S. housing starts fell 4% in July from the prior month, the third consecutive month of declines. However, residential building permits notched their largest increase since June 2017.
The latest preliminary University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey is due later Friday.
—Anna Isaac contributed to this article.
Write to Avantika Chilkoti at Avantika.Chilkoti@wsj.com
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-follow-u-s-markets-higher-11565943373
2019-08-16 12:58:00Z
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