BEIJING — Global stock markets and Wall Street futures advanced Monday after the downturn in China’s service industries eased and news reports said the Biden administration might lift U.S. tariffs on some Chinese imports.
London and Frankfurt opened higher. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong advanced. Oil prices gained to stay close to $120 per barrel.
A survey showed activity in Chinese retailing and other service industries shrank in May but at a slower rate than the previous month. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported Washington planned to lift tariffs on Chinese-made solar panels and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said President Joe Biden was “looking at” ending other duties.
“Some pockets of optimism may come from further easing of virus restrictions in Beijing,” Yeap Jun Rong of IG said in a report.
In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London rose 1.3% to 7,628.69 and the DAX in Frankfurt gained 0.7% to 14,554.83. The CAC 40 in Paris advanced 0.9% to 6,545.79.
On Wall Street, the future for the benchmark S&P 500 index was up 0.8% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.6%.
On Friday, the S&P 500 lost 1.6% for its eighth weekly decline in the past nine weeks. The Dow fell 1% and the Nasdaq fell 2.5%.
Government data showed U.S. employers added 390,000 jobs in May, beating expectations of 322,500.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.3% to 3,236.37 after the business news magazine Caixin said its monthly purchasing managers’ index for services rose to 41.4 from April’s 36.2 on a 100-point scale on which numbers below 50 show activity contracting.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 1.8% to 21,470.94 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added 0.6% to 27,915.89. Korean markets were closed for a holiday.
Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 shed 0.5% to 7,206.30. New Zealand markets were closed for a holiday.
India’s Sensex lost less than 0.1% to 55,716.30. Southeast Asian markets declined.
Wall Street traders are uneasy about the possibility Federal Reserve interest rates aimed at cooling inflation that is running at a four-decade high might tip the U.S. economy into a recession.
Also Friday, government data showed wages were lower than forecast in May, which might reduce future pressure for prices to rise. That would ease pressure on the Fed for more rate hikes.
More than four out of five stocks in the S&P 500 fell. The biggest declines were in tech stocks.
Tesla tumbled 9.2% after U.S. safety regulators said more than 750 owners have complained about cars suddenly stopping on roadways for no apparent reason while operating on their partially automated driving systems.
Benchmark U.S. crude rose 40 cents to $119.27 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $2 on Friday to $118.87. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, advanced 35 cents to $120.07 per barrel in London. It closed $2.11 higher in the previous session, at $119.72.
The dollar declined to 130.79 yen from Friday’s 130.85 yen. The euro rose to $1.0745 from $1.0720. – AP
