LONDON (Reuters) – Global equities rose for the seventh consecutive day to a record high on Tuesday, while bitcoin briefly hit a new high of $ 48,000, amplifying gains after an endorsement by Tesla Inc.
Robust corporate profits, monetary and fiscal support from policymakers and the prospect of vaccines against a pandemic can accelerate the return to normality in the United States and other countries, heightened the sense of risk.
The MSCI All-Country World Index remained broadly stable throughout the European morning, rising 0.1% at a new record high, reflecting gains in the US indices in the previous session and strength in Asia.
Futures for the S&P 500 were announcing a slightly lower opening, down 0.1%, although Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, said he remained positive about the outlook.
“With strong corporate earnings and a favorable policy scenario, we believe the US bull market is on a solid foundation,” he said.
In the bond markets, the main yields on eurozone bonds were stable, exceeding the highs of the previous session. Italy’s borrowing costs were close to recent lows, as Mario Draghi sought support to form a new government.
Yield on 10-year German bonds was half a basis point lower at -0.449% after hitting five-month highs on Monday at -0.412%.
After previous 13-month hikes in rising optimism about a return in fuel demand, Brent crude was once again stable in the day, but still above $ 60 a barrel.
“There is a feeling that the oversupply of oil is disappearing faster than anyone thought possible,” said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. “There seems to be a paradigm shift in the market.”
But concern remained about the pace of vaccination, its effectiveness against new variants of the new coronavirus and the damage done to economies, including the impact on the dollar of a planned $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package.
This set of negativity weighed on the dollar. In relation to a basket of other currencies, the previous falls for trade extended by 0.4% – reinforcing gold, a traditional safe haven against rising inflation, which rose 0.5%.
The euro extended its initial gains to rise 0.4% to $ 1.21025 from a two-month low of $ 1.9520 touched on Friday. The pound was up about 0.3% at $ 1.3776.
In more volatile cryptocurrency markets, bitcoin has advanced since the previous day’s 20% rise to reach a high of $ 48,216.09, before dropping to around $ 46,500.
The earnings follow a surprise announcement by Tesla Inc on Monday that it had invested about $ 1.5 billion in the virtual currency and hopes to accept it as payment for its cars in the future.
Additional reporting by Saikat Chatterjee and Sara Rossi; edition of Larry King and Barbara Lewis