Wall Street stocks hit fresh records as oil prices slide

Global markets shrugged off Monday’s (14) weak data from China, with some major indices hitting fresh records as traders looked ahead to corporate earnings later this week.

But oil prices fell as markets were unimpressed with a pledge by China’s finance minister to boost the world’s second-biggest economy.

On Wall Street, all three major indices finished higher ahead of a slew of high-profile corporate earnings from companies including Netflix, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs.

The broad-based S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit fresh records, while tech-rich Nasdaq Composite rose on the back of a 2.4 percent increase in the share price of chipmaker Nvidia.

Traders now value the US-based chip designer at more than $3.4 trillion, making it the world’s second-most valuable publicly traded company, after Apple.

The market “just continues to sort of squeeze higher, led by primarily the mega cap stocks,” Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare told AFP.

“You have a market that clearly is continuing to show no signs of breaking here,” he added. “And that, I think, is kind of keeping people fearful about missing out on further gains.”

One of the week’s key economic events takes place Thursday, when the European Central Bank is expected to lower interest rates again as anxiety about inflation in the eurozone fades and concerns over sluggish growth mount.

The euro traded lower against the dollar and pound Monday (14). Europe’s main equity markets closed higher, with Frankfurt at a record finish. But oil prices slid as concerns about the outlook for China’s economy offset fears of escalating conflict in the Middle East.

“The devil is always in the detail and once again China has glossed over how it intends to accelerate economic growth,” noted AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

China’s finance minister Lan Fo’an on Saturday said the country would issue special bonds to bolster banks, signalling an impending spending spree to shore up the property market and ease local government debt.

Harry Murphy Cruise, an economist at Moody’s (14) Analytics, said the announcement “ticked most of the right boxes, but it lacked detail on the scale and scope of new spending.”

“We expect more supports to be announced through the remainder of the year,” he added.

The Chinese authorities have in recent weeks unveiled a string of measures aimed at stimulating economic activity and shoring up the ailing property sector.

Following the latest announcement, official data Sunday showed that China’s consumer inflation rate slowed in September, a sign that demand remains fragile.

Separate figures published Monday (14) revealed that China’s export growth slowed sharply in September, while imports remained sluggish.

Investors are eyeing further Chinese data later in the week, including on retail sales, trade and economic growth.

“While the full effects of the recent economic measures may not be immediately evident in the upcoming data releases, these figures will provide more insight into how China’s economy is faring and whether additional actions may be necessary,” said Tony Sycamore, analyst at the IG trading group.