Stocks surge to record highs on hopes virus is peaking, gold ebbs

Key U.S. and European stock indexes surged to fresh records on Tuesday after China’s senior medical adviser suggested the deadly coronavirus may be over in April, a rosy outlook that helped crude prices to rebound on renewed Chinese demand.

China’s foremost medical adviser on the outbreak told Reuters the number of new cases were falling in parts and forecast the epidemic would peak this month, but the World Health Organization still feared a “very grave” global threat. Gold edged lower and the dollar retreated from a four-month high against the euro as risk appetite improved, helping push bond yields higher.

MSCI’s all-world stock index .MIWD00000PUS gained 0.64% to hit a record high, as did the pan-regional STOXX 600 index in Europe, the blue-chip DAX .GDAXI in Germany and the S&P/TSX Composite .GSPTSE in Canada. The Dow industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all set records.

Investors are not euphoric and the coronavirus has added a dose of healthy skepticism in the marketplace, said Rahul Shah, chief executive of Ideal Asset Management in New York. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress that the U.S. economy is in a good place, even as he cited the potential threat from the coronavirus in China and concerns about the economy’s long-term health. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 37.72 points, or 0.13%, to 29,314.54. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 16.46 points, or 0.49%, to 3,368.55 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 73.48 points, or 0.76%, to 9,701.87.

Brent crude LCOc1 rose $1.04 to $54.31 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate CLc1 crude rose 66 cents to $50.23 a barrel. Spot gold XAU= was down 0.49% at $1,564.20 an ounce.

Stocks surge to record highs on hopes virus is peaking, gold ebbs, Reuters, Feb 11