Global Markets: Stocks across the world buoyant on upbeat earnings

Modern Land (China)

26/10/2021 09:25

* Euro STOXX 600 up 0.3%
    * UBS, financials lead more upbeat earnings
    * China property sector worries still worry investors
    * Dollar steady

    By Tom Wilson and Kane Wu
    LONDON/HONG KONG, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Shares made slim gains
around the world on Tuesday, with upbeat corporate earnings
buoying European shares and outweighing recurring worries about
China's property sector. 
    The broad Euro STOXX 600  .STOXX  hit its highest in seven
weeks, adding 0.5%, with German stocks  .GDAXI  gaining 0.9%. 
    After a stellar quarter for U.S. and British banks,
Switzerland's UBS  UBSG.S  rose over 2% on its highest quarterly
profit since 2015, helping the financial services sector  .SXFP 
climb about 1%. 
    Wall Street futures  ESc1  were up 0.3%, with the earnings
season reaching its peak and tech heavyweights including Apple
Inc  AAPL.O  and Alphabet  GOOGL.O  due to report later. 
    Still, some analysts voiced caution over the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on supply chains. 
    "Even though this has been a good earnings season in
aggregate we are starting to see more companies with supply
backlogs, hiring difficulties, and rising input prices that are
eating into profits," Deutsche Bank analysts wrote. 
    The MSCI world equity index  .MIWD00000PUS , which tracks
shares in 50 countries, added 0.1%
    Asian stocks had earlier followed Wall Street's record highs
overnight, before giving up their gains. Electric car maker
Tesla Inc  TSLA.O  had boosted Wall Street after it joined the
$1 trillion market capitalisation club.    
    MSCI's gauge of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was flat after briefly touching its highest in
six weeks, following gains throughout October.     
    Weighing on the market were Chinese property stocks, which
extended losses as another developer, Modern Land  1107.HK ,
defaulted on a payment, adding to worries about the effects of
the debt crisis at China Evergrande Group  3333.HK .
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2RM05A
    Hong Kong-listed mainland property firms  .HSMPI  dropped 5%
while the mainland CSI 300 Real Estate Index  .CSI000952  fell
2.8%. 
    China has said it will roll out a pilot real estate tax in
some regions, adding to existing concerns about real estate.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2RJ05C
    Some analysts voiced concern at the drag on global growth
from a slowdown in the world's second biggest economy.
    Citi strategist Robert Buckland said the bank had cut its
2022 global real GDP growth forecast to 4.2% from 4.4%. 
    "The impact of the China slowdown is becoming increasingly
evident in other Asian economies, but also in Europe where the
Germany growth forecast has been cut from 5.2% to 3.5%," he
wrote, warning of "a deeper and longer Chinese slowdown".

   DOLLAR STEADY 
   The U.S. dollar index  =USD  held at 93.932 - in between a
one-year high of 94.563 hit earlier in the month and a one-month
low of 93.483 on Monday. 
    Analysts expect it might stay there through a slew of
central bank meetings in coming days. 
    The European Central Bank and Bank of Japan are both set to
hold monetary policy meetings on Thursday, though neither is
expected to take major action on interest rates.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2RM0AV urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2RL003
     Euro zone inflation expectations among bond investors
opened at a new seven-year high, shooting past the ECB's target,
leading to speculation that the ECB's pandemic-era stimulus was
unsustainable.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2RM21M
    Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes  US10YT=RR  were
steady at 1.6388% off last week's five month top of 1.7% as
uncertainty about when the Federal Reserve would raise rates to
curb rising inflation weighed on market sentiment. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2RL1B7  
 
    Already nudging multi-year highs, oil prices rose marginally
in a market gripped by tight global supply and strengthening
fuel demand in the United States and beyond.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2RM05Y
    Brent crude  LCOc1  futures fell 0.4% to $85.68 a barrel, 
while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude  CLc1 
futures edged 0.01% higher to $83.76 a barrel.

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 (Reporting by Tom Wilson in London and Kane Wu in Hong Kong;
additional reporting by Sujata Rao in London; Editing by Sam
Holmes, Simon Cameron-Moore and Timothy Heritage)
 ((kane.wu@thomsonreuters.com; +85228436590; Reuters Messaging:
kane.wu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))