Upbeat earnings underpin global stocks, dollar eases to three-year low
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) - World stock markets rose on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 getting a lift from upbeat earnings from companies such as Netflix, while the U.S. dollar slipped to a three-year low against a basket of major currencies.
In U.S. stocks, Netflix <NFLX.O> closed up 10.0 percent and hit a record high after the video-streaming pioneer beat Wall Street targets for new subscribers in the fourth quarter.
Insurer Travelers <TRV.N> also rose after earnings topped estimates. The majority of S&P 500 results so far this earnings season have been stronger than expected.
"Generally, we like the trend of earnings, we think they will continue to be good and our forecasts for the rest of the year look good," said Mike Baele, managing director at U.S. Bank Private Client Wealth Management in Portland, Oregon.
"It is not surprising the market is taking comfort in these good numbers."
Keeping some of the enthusiasm in check were disappointing results from Procter & Gamble <PG.N> and others.
Also, U.S. President Donald Trump late Monday slapped steep import tariffs on washing machines and solar panels. That put a cloud over global trade, though it lifted shares of some U.S. solar companies and of appliance maker Whirlpool <WHR.N>
The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> fell 3.79 points, or 0.01 percent, to 26,210.81, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 6.16 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,839.13 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 52.26 points, or 0.71 percent, to 7,460.29.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> rose 0.12 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe <.MIWD00000PUS> gained 0.49 percent.
Data showed euro zone consumer confidence jumped much more than expected in January, underlining the strong momentum in the euro zone economy.
That pushed the dollar index to a three-year low.
The dollar index <.DXY>, which measures the greenback against six rival currencies, was down 0.32 percent at 90.115, after slipping as low as 90.063, its lowest since December 2014.
Some investors speculated that the recent bearish move in the dollar may be coming to a close amid concerns over the U.S. stance on global trade.
Also in the foreign exchange market, Britain's pound topped $1.40 <GBP=D4> for the first time since voters there chose in 2016 to leave the European Union.
Sterling <GBP=> was last trading at $1.3997, up 0.09 percent on the day.
Brent crude inched above $70 a barrel for the first time in a week before settling just below that level. Healthy world economic growth prospects helped to boost oil.
The International Monetary Fund on Monday revised upward its forecast for world economic growth to 3.9 percent for 2018 and 2019, a 0.2 percentage point increase from its last update in October.
Brent crude futures <LCOc1> gained 93 cents to settle at $69.96 after rising above $70 during the session. U.S. crude futures <CLc1> climbed 90 cents to settle at $64.47.
U.S. Treasury debt yields weakened, moving in tandem with Japanese government bond yields, after the Bank of Japan kept interest rate targets unchanged and its top official quashed speculation of a move away from an easy monetary policy.
Benchmark 10-year notes <US10YT=RR> last rose 13/32 in price to yield 2.6168 percent, from 2.663 percent late on Monday.
(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, Saqib Iqbal Ahmed, David Gaffen and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Tom Brown)
