Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
Stocks rose even as the price of Bitcoin has resumed its volatility.
The
gained 186 points, to close up 0.54%, while the
rose 1% and the
advanced 1.4%.
Stock-market indexes in Tokyo, Shanghai and London inched higher as German and Swiss markets were closed for the Whit Monday holiday.
Bitcoin rose above $39,000 on Monday after a weekend plunge to the $31,000 level. Federal Reserve Gov. Lael Brainard is due to speak to a cryptocurrency event on Monday.
China on Monday announced a crackdown on commodity price violations. China’s National Development and Reform Commission said it would “severely punish” commodity monopolies as it blamed rising prices on “excessive speculation.” A range of commodity prices has surged as the global economy emerges from lockdowns.
“China’s efforts to cool the recent rise in raw material prices has seen a number of key commodity prices ease back in recent trading sessions. This has weighed somewhat on marketbased measures of inflation expectations, nevertheless concerns over the extent to which price pressures will build as recoveries take hold continue to rage,” said Nikesh Sawjani, an economist at Lloyds Banking Group.
A
flight from Greece to Lithuania was forced to land in Belarus over an alleged bomb scare, at which point the country arrested an opposition activist. The European Council said it would begin discussing sanctions against Belarus over the incident. Ryanair shares were steady on Monday.
Stock investors seemed optimistic Monday, but major events ahead loom. Inflation data are due Friday and recently higher-than-expected price increases have dented stocks, the value of which erodes with higher inflation. “Inflation remains the key focus for markets,” writes Andrew Hollenhorst, Citigroup economist.
(ticker: SPCE) stock rose 27.74% after the company launched a successful spaceflight.
(IQ) stock initially gained, then fell 2.15% after getting upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
(BYND) stock gained 10% after getting upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at Alliance Bernstein.
(DG) stock dropped 3.85% after getting downgraded to Underperform from Neutral.
(CPB) stock was down 0.47% after getting downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
Write to Jacob Sonenshine at jacob.sonenshine@barrons.com
