(Bloomberg) — Stocks extended a climb Monday, bolstered by the technology sector, as investors evaluated whether inflation is close to cresting and the chances of skirting a recession amid monetary tightening.
An Asian share index jumped over 1%, helped by Chinese tech firms as well as gains in Japan. US futures inched lower in the wake of a more than 3% Friday surge on Wall Street that cemented the best week for global stocks in a month.
Treasuries were steady. Yields have retreated from June highs as growth worries take center stage, leaving the US 10-year rate at 3.13%. Whether that marks the end of the Treasury bear market is another live debate.
The yen strengthened against the dollar, while a greenback gauge dipped.
Oil traded around $107 a barrel, sapped again by concerns about demand. Traders are also monitoring a summit of the Group of Seven leaders, who plan to commit to indefinite support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion. The G-7 in addition is weighing a price cap on Russian oil.
Investors are parsing incoming data to work out if the highest inflation in a generation is close to topping out. In time, that could give policy makers latitude to ease up on sharp interest-rate hikes. A more troubling scenario is of lasting price pressures and tighter policy even as the global economy falters.
“There’s a feeling that things aren’t as bad as we thought they were going to be,” Carol Pepper, founder of Pepper International, said on Bloomberg Radio. She added “there’s a hope that perhaps we’ve oversold, perhaps there’s not going to be a recession.”
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly said Friday she favors another 75 basis-point rate increase in July. Meanwhile, Fed Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said fears of a US recession are overblown.
Elsewhere, Russia defaulted on its foreign-currency sovereign debt for the first time in a century, the culmination of ever-tougher Western sanctions that shut down payment routes.
The US, UK, Japan and Canada also plan to announce a ban on new gold imports from Russia during the G-7 summit. Prices for the precious metal rose.
In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and a range of other tokens weakened slightly but the largest virtual coin held above $21,000.
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