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Stocks rose in Europe and Asia on Thursday, with investors taking heart from an infrastructure spending proposal in the world’s top economy, even at the cost of higher corporate taxes.
In Asia, the
rose 0.7%, the
rose 1.9% and the
added 0.9%. There also were positive data from Japan, where the Tankan index of business conditions rose more than expected in the first quarter.
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.6%, where investors looked past a new round of restrictions in France in response to a third wave of coronavirus infections. U.S. stock futures also gained ground following a technology stock-led advance on Wednesday.
President
Joe Biden
laid out what he calls the American Jobs Plan, calling for $2.25 trillion of infrastructure spending over eight years, to be paid for by corporate taxes amounting to roughly $2 trillion over 15 years. The proposal faces tough but not insurmountable odds in the U.S. Senate, which is only narrowly held by Democrats.
“Although this is good news for the economy and it seems to be a supportive development for equities, it would be interesting to wait and see whether this will revive fears of an overheating economy. If so, this could lift U.S. Treasury yields higher and perhaps weigh again on equities. However, we don’t believe that we will see a strong selloff, if any,” said Charalambos Pissouros, senior market analyst at JFD Group.
There are also key U.S. economic data over the next two days, with a manufacturing report due on Thursday and the nonfarm payrolls report out on Friday, when markets in Europe and the U.S. will be shut in observance of Good Friday.
Memory chip maker
reported stronger-than-forecast fiscal second-quarter results and guided for current-quarter earnings ahead of estimates.
Residential brokerage Compass faces its first day of trade on the New York Stock Exchange after reducing the number of shares on offer, and pricing its shares at $18, the low end of an already reduced range.
Shares of
dropped 14% in Paris after the tech consulting firm said its auditors found accounting errors at two U.S. subsidiaries, which account for about 11% of last year’s revenue.
