Stocks Wobble as China Bets Fade; Dollar Stalls: Markets Wrap - Yahoo Finance

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks and US equity-index futures fluctuated within short ranges amid concern the Federal Reserve will keep borrowing costs higher for longer. Optimism over China’s economic recovery that drove a rally in Asia fizzled.

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The Stoxx Europe 600 Index traded marginally higher after rising as much as 0.3% and falling as much as 0.2%. The Shanghai Composite Index earlier climbed the most since November. Treasury futures were lower as investors assessed hawkish comments by Federal Reserve officials. The dollar took a breather from a three-week rally. Trading volumes were thin amid a US holiday, making directional changes more frequent.

A chorus of investors including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is betting on Chinese equities to resume a rally as the world’s second-biggest economy deepens stimulus and relaxes pandemic restrictions. While this has sparked inflows into global assets tied to the Chinese economy, the broader sentiment in markets remains impaired, with the Fed resolute on its fight against inflation. Growing geopolitical tensions are also preventing investors from turning more bullish.

“The only place where the central bank will remain soft enough is China, to recover from a series of absurd Covid measures that pushed the economy into an unnecessary depressed zone,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, wrote in a note. “The geopolitical tensions aren’t going in the right direction for restoring confidence.”

Europe’s Stoxx 600 was dragged by consumer and technology stocks, even as the gauge’s commodity names rallied. In China, stocks gained after a Goldman report that penciled in a rebound on the back of an earnings recovery. Calls for further stimulus via lower rates also built up, prompting the nation’s banks to keep their lending rates unchanged.

Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes were little changed, with Treasury futures dropping across the curve. Stocks ended last week on a muted note after Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin and Fed Governor Michelle Bowman both expressed their support for continued rate hikes. That followed hawkish remarks by St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Cleveland President Loretta.

Given the holiday absence of US traders, it was unclear how the markets viewed the flurry of geopolitical developments over the past few days. First, the weekend underscored growing tensions between the world’s two superpowers: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China’s State Councilor Wang Yi traded barbs on everything from Taiwan to North Korea and Russia in their first meeting since a spy balloon controversy. Then, North Korea fired a barrage of suspected ballistic missiles and issued a warning to the US over joint military exercises.

On Monday, US President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv and met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy, declaring “unwavering support” in a show of solidarity as Russia’s invasion nears the one-year mark.

Oil futures advanced on Monday. Demand from China will climb by 800,000 barrels a day in 2023, according to the median estimate of 11 China-focused consultants surveyed by Bloomberg News. That would take consumption to an all-time high of about 16 million barrels a day, the survey showed.

Investors also awaited clues on US consumer demand as Walmart Inc. and Home Depot Inc. were set to kick off a slew of retail earnings reports this week.

Key events this week:

Earnings for the week are scheduled to include: Alibaba, Anglo American, AXA, BAE Systems, Baidu, BASF, BHP, Danone, Deutsche Telekom, Holcim, Home Depot, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, HSBC, Iberdrola, Lloyds Banking Group, Moderna, Munich Re, Newmont, Nvidia, Rio Tinto, Walmart, Warner Bros Discovery
US financial markets closed for Presidents’ Day holiday, Monday
PMIs for Japan, Eurozone, UK, US, Tuesday
US existing home sales, Tuesday
US MBA mortgage applications, Wednesday
The Federal Reserve minutes from Jan. 31-Feb. 1 policy meeting, Wednesday
Eurozone CPI, Thursday
US GDP, initial jobless claims, Thursday
Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaks, Thursday
G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors meet in India, Thursday-Friday
Japan CPI, Friday
BOJ governor-nominee Kazuo Ueda appears before Japan’s lower house, Friday