World stocks climb for ninth day as earnings kick in

By Lewis Krauskopf

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A gauge of global stocks climbed for a ninth straight session on Wednesday as earnings season heated up in the United States and Europe, while the dollar bounced modestly off 10-month lows.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq tallied intraday record highs in the U.S., picking up from strong performances by major European stock indexes, with the tech sector giving a boost in both regions.

After decent gains in Asia on the back of positive signs from global economic powerhouse China, MSCI's world stocks index <.MIWD00000PUS> looked set for a ninth day of gains which would mark its longest winning streak since October 2015. The global index gained 0.40 percent, setting a record high for a fifth straight session.

 

"In the U.S., the earnings season seems to be surprising a little bit on the upside," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland.

"What we have seen recently in the economic reports suggests it should be even better overseas ... So we have come to the point where things looks pretty good in the U.S. and it looks even better in prospect overseas, so what's not to like about equities."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> rose 31.38 points, or 0.15 percent, to 21,606.11, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 9.59 points, or 0.39 percent, to 2,470.2 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 40.18 points, or 0.63 percent, to 6,384.49.

Morgan Stanley shares climbed 2.4 pct after the bank's profit report.

Biotech Vertex soared 20.8 pct after stunning cystic fibrosis drug data.

Not all was rosy in earnings season, as IBM shares dropped 4.3 pct after its report.

About a week into the heart of second-quarter reporting season, S&P 500 earnings are now expected to rise 8.7 percent, up from an expectation of an 8-percent rise from the start of July, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

In Europe, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> rose 0.71 percent. Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML's shares gained 5.8 pct after the firm's quarterly report, lifting the region's tech sector <.SX8P> to its biggest daily percentage gain since September.

"We would like to see those stronger earnings coming through and Europe really turning a corner," said Dafydd Davies, partner at Charles Hanover Investments.

The dollar edged higher against a basket of currencies a day after the greenback's sharp decline sparked by a fresh setback to President Donald Trump's domestic agenda.

The dollar index <.DXY> rose 0.16 percent, with the euro > down 0.27 percent to $1.1521.

Investors remained wary of pushing the U.S. currency lower before meetings this week with the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan. Market watchers will be looking to see if the recent strength of the euro and the yen influence their policy outlooks.

U.S. Treasury yields were little changed in advance of Thursday's ECB meeting.

Benchmark 10-year notes > last fell 3/32 in price to yield 2.2713 percent, from 2.263 percent late on Tuesday.

Oil prices jumped after a U.S. report showed a bigger weekly draw than forecast in crude and gasoline stocks along with a surprise drop in distillate inventories.

U.S. crude rose 1.31 percent to $47.01 per barrel and Brent was last at $49.53, up 1.41 percent on the day.

(Additional reporting by John Geddie and Kit Rees in London; editing Nick Zieminski and Chizu Nomiyama)