Global stocks rise following strong U.S. jobs data
BEIJING - Global stocks rose on Monday after strong U.S. and Germany economic data offset concerns about weak Chinese trade figures.
Germany's DAX advanced 0.9 percent to 10,460 and France's CAC 40 rose 0.4 percent to 4,429. London's FTSE 100 gained less than 0.1 percent to 6,796. Wall Street looked set for more gains, with the futures for the Standard & Poor's 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average both up 0.2 percent.
U.S. stocks jumped to record highs last week after the Labor Department said U.S. employers added 255,000 jobs in July, far more than investors expected and the second straight month of strong gains after shaky reports this spring. In Germany, official figures show industrial production rebounded in June to grow by 0.8 percent compared with the previous month. The number was slightly better than the 0.7 percent gain that economists had forecast.
"The market's trepidations concerning the U.S. labor market are definitively in the rear view mirror after the second consecutive resilient report," Stephen Innes of OANDA said in a report. Job gains in July "transcended even the most optimistic of expectations," he said. "It is easy to check off good-news boxes within this stellar jobs report and tough to find any negatives."
China's exports fell again in July compared with a year earlier while a decline in imports accelerated. Exports contracted 4.4 percent to $184.7 billion, a slight improvement over June's 4.8 percent contraction. Imports fell 12.5 percent to $132.4 billion, accelerating from a decline of 8.4 percent. Weak global demand has hampered efforts to shore up Chinese trade and stave off job losses in export industries. Investors also were looking ahead to Chinese inflation and retail sales data due out this week for signals on which direction the world's second-largest economy is headed.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 surged 2.4 percent to 16,650.57 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.6 percent to 22,494.76. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.9 percent at 3,004.28 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 added 0.4 percent to 5,497.40. Seoul's Kospi advanced 0.9 percent to 2,017.94 and India's Sensex rose 0.2 percent to 28,143.82. Benchmarks in Taiwan, New Zealand and Thailand also rose, while Singapore retreated.
Benchmark U.S. crude gained 61 cents to $42.41 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract shed 13 cents on Friday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, added 59 cents to $44.87 per barrel in London. It lost 2 cents on Friday.
The dollar rose to 102.32 yen from Friday's 101.82 yen. The euro edged down to $1.1082 from $1.1087.